Adhyaya 194
This adhyāya records Īśvara’s instruction to Mahādevī concerning a liṅga said to be “installed by the gods.” It declares that knowing the prabhāva (sacred potency) of this shrine brings the destruction of all sins and purification of the pilgrim. It then lays down a discipline of conduct: one should undertake intense austerity (ugra tapas) in relation to the liṅga, and the pilgrim who gains its darśana is said to become kṛtakṛtya—religiously fulfilled, with duty accomplished. The chapter also prescribes charitable giving: perform go-dāna, the gift of a cow, to a Brahmin learned in the Veda, affirming that rightly directed dāna strengthens and increases the fruit of pilgrimage (yātrā-phala).
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि लिंगं देवैः प्रतिष्ठितम् । ज्ञात्वा प्रभावं क्षेत्रस्य सर्वपातकनाशनम्
Īśvara said: “Then, O Great Goddess, one should go to the liṅga established by the gods, knowing the might of this sacred field—destroyer of all grave sins.”
Verse 2
तत्र कृत्वा तपश्चोग्रं लिंगं देवैः प्रतिष्ठितम् । तं दृष्ट्वा मानवो देवि कृतकृत्यः प्रजायते
There, having undertaken severe austerity at the liṅga installed by the gods, a person—O Goddess—by beholding it becomes one who has fulfilled life’s purpose.
Verse 3
गोदानं तत्र देयं तु ब्राह्मणे वेदपारगे । सम्यक्च लभते देवि यात्रायाः फलमूर्जितम्
There, indeed, a gift of cows should be given to a Brāhmaṇa learned in the Vedas; and then, O Goddess, one properly gains the powerful, abundant fruit of the pilgrimage.
Verse 194
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां सहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखंडे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्येऽमरेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम चतुर्णवत्युत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends Chapter 194, entitled “The Description of the Greatness of Amareśvara,” in the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa, within the first division—Prabhāsakṣetra-māhātmya—of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses.