Adhyaya 217
This adhyāya is a brief shrine-glory teaching spoken by Īśvara to Devī. It locates Devarājeśvara to the west, not far from Gautameśvara, at a distance of sixteen dhanu (a traditional bow-based measure). It then states the cause-and-fruit: by establishing the liṅga (sthāpanā), the doer is freed from pāpa (moral fault). As guidance for future devotees, it declares that any person who worships that liṅga with a calm, concentrated mind (samāhita-manas) is likewise released from sins arising from human embodiment (mānava-sambhūta pātakāni). The closing colophon identifies the text as the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, within the 81,000-verse compilation, in the seventh division (Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa), first section (Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya), and names this as the 217th chapter.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । गौतमेश्वरतो देवि पश्चिमे नातिदूरतः । धनुःषोडशभिर्देवि देवराजेश्वरः स्थितः
Īśvara said: “O Devī, not far to the west of Gautameśvara—at a distance of sixteen bow-lengths—stands the shrine of Devarājeśvara.”
Verse 2
लिंगं स स्थापयामास ततः पापैर्व्यमुच्यत । यस्तं समाहितमनाः पूजयिष्यति मानवः । स च मानवसंभूतात्पातकात्संप्रमोक्ष्यति
He established the liṅga, and thereby was released from sins. Any person who worships that (liṅga) with a collected mind will also be completely freed from sins that arise from human conduct.
Verse 217
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये देवराजेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम सप्तदशोत्तरद्विशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends, in the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the eighty-one-thousand-verse compilation—in the seventh, the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa, in the first division called the Prabhāsakṣetra-māhātmya, the chapter entitled “Narration of the Greatness of Devarājeśvara,” being Chapter 217.