Adhyaya 216
This adhyāya is a brief Śaiva tīrtha account spoken by Īśvara to Devī. It identifies an eminent liṅga named Gautameśvara, situated north of Mārkaṇḍeśvara at a distance of fifteen dhanus. The shrine is presented as a place of expiation: the sage Gautama, burdened by sin and grief after killing his guru, establishes (pratiṣṭhā) the liṅga there and is freed from that moral weight. A merit-bearing discipline is then prescribed for pilgrims—bathing in the river according to proper rite, worshipping the liṅga with ritual correctness, and giving a kapilā (tawny cow) as dāna. The declared fruit is release from the five great sins (pañca-pātaka), portraying the site as a sacred meeting point of repentance, right action, and purification.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । मार्कण्डेश्वरतो देवि उत्तरे लिंगमुत्तमम् । धनुषां पञ्चदशभिर्गौतमेश्वरनामकम्
Īśvara said: O Goddess, to the north of Mārkaṇḍeśvara—at a distance of fifteen bow-lengths—there is an excellent liṅga named Gautameśvara.
Verse 2
गुरुं हत्वा पुरा देवि गौतमः पापदुःखितः । तत्र लिंगं प्रतिष्ठाप्य तस्मात्पापाद्व्यमुच्यत
Long ago, O Goddess, Gautama, afflicted by the sorrow of sin after slaying his guru, established a liṅga there; and by that act he was released from that sin.
Verse 3
यस्तत्र कपिलां दद्यात्स्नात्वा नद्यां विधानतः । संपूज्य विधिवल्लिंगं मुच्यते पञ्चपातकैः
Whoever there, having bathed in the river according to the prescribed rite, gives a tawny cow (kapilā) and duly worships the liṅga, is freed from the five great sins.
Verse 216
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये गौतमेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम षोडशोत्तरद्विशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends, in the venerable Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses—within the seventh, the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, and within the first division, the Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya, the chapter entitled “Description of the Greatness of Gautameśvara,” being Chapter 216.