Adhyaya 188
This adhyāya gives a brief pilgrimage instruction within Prabhāsa-kṣetra. Īśvara speaks to Devī and directs her to a particular station where a svayaṃbhū liṅga named Rudreśvara stands upon the earth. The shrine is located in relation to Ādi-Prabhāsa, at a measured distance of three bow-lengths, emphasizing ritual-geographical precision. The text then explains the sacred origin of the site: Rudra, entering contemplation (dhyāna), “placed” his own tejas there, so the place’s holiness rests on divine presence rather than human construction. In closing, the phalaśruti declares that the darśana and pūjā of Rudreśvara destroy all sins and enable the devotee to attain desired aims.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि तत्र स्थाने तु संस्थितम् । रुद्रेश्वरेतिनामानं स्वयंभूतं धरातले
Īśvara said: “Then, O Mahādevī, one should go to that place where, upon the face of the earth, there stands the self-manifest (svayaṃbhū) sacred presence named Rudreśvara.”
Verse 2
आदिप्रभासात्पुरतो धनुषां त्रितये स्थितम् । रुद्रेण ध्यानमास्थाय स्वं तेजस्तत्र योजितम्
Situated in front of Ādi-Prabhāsa at a distance of three bow-lengths, it was there that Rudra, entering meditation, established his own divine radiance.
Verse 3
ततो रुद्रेश्वरंनाम सर्वपातकनाशनम् । तं दृष्ट्वा पूजयित्वा च सर्वान्कामानवाप्नुयात्
Therefore it is called Rudreśvara, the destroyer of all sins. Having seen it and worshipped it, one attains all desired aims.
Verse 188
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभास खण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये रुद्रेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनामाष्टाशीत्युत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the one-hundred-and-eighty-eighth chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Rudreśvara,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, within the Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya section of the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses.