Adhyaya 181
Īśvara instructs Mahādevī about an excellent shrine called Kṣetrapāleśvara, situated a little to the east and near Siddheśvara. The chapter gives a practical rule for pilgrimage: one should go there, take darśana on the lunar day Śukla-pañcamī, and then worship in proper order. The pūjā is to be performed with fragrances and flowers, in reverence. The ritual and ethical teaching culminates in generosity—feeding brāhmaṇas according to one’s means with a variety of foods—thus joining personal devotion (pūjā) with communal dharma (dāna/annadāna). The closing colophon states that this is the 181st adhyāya of the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya within the seventh Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, part of a systematically indexed account of sacred geography.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि क्षेत्रपेश्वरमुत्तमम् । सिद्धेश्वर समीपस्थं पूर्वस्मिन्नातिदूरतः
Īśvara said: “Then, O great goddess, one should go to the excellent Kṣetrapeśvara, situated near Siddheśvara, not far away to the east.”
Verse 2
तं दृष्ट्वा शुक्लपञ्चम्यां न च नागैः स दश्यते
Having seen him on the bright-fortnight fifth day (Śukla Pañcamī), one is not afflicted even by serpents.
Verse 3
पूजयेत्तं विधानेन गन्धपुष्पादिभिः क्रमात् । भोजयेद्ब्राह्मणाञ्छक्त्या भक्ष्यभोज्यैरनेकशः
One should worship him according to proper rite, in due order with fragrances, flowers, and the like; and, according to one’s capacity, one should feed brāhmaṇas with many kinds of foods—both snacks and full meals.
Verse 181
इतिश्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्र माहात्म्ये क्षेत्रपालेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनामैकाशीत्युत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the one-hundred-and-eighty-first chapter, called “The Description of the Glory of Kṣetrapāleśvara,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa—within the Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya—of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses.