Adhyaya 230
Īśvara instructs the Devī about a Gaṇapati beloved of the gods, whom Īśvara Himself has appointed to dwell at Prabhāsa. The deity is said to be situated on the southern side of the Gaṅgā and is portrayed as ever active in safeguarding the sacred kṣetra. A calendrical observance is prescribed: worship on kṛṣṇa-caturdaśī (the 14th lunar day of the dark fortnight) in the month of Māgha. The offerings are given in concise ritual terms—divine modaka as naivedya, along with flowers, incense, and other upacāras performed in proper order. The promised fruit is protective and practical: for the worshiper, no obstacles (vighna) arise, with the assurance explicitly tied to the condition of remaining within or residing in the kṣetra. The chapter ends with a colophon identifying it as the 230th adhyāya of the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa’s first division, Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, titled “Gaṇapati-māhātmya-varṇana.”
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि देवं गणपतिप्रियम् । तत्रैव संस्थितं सम्यङ्मया तत्र नियोजितः
Īśvara said: Then, O great Devī, one should go to the deity beloved of Gaṇapati; he is rightly established there, appointed to that place by me.
Verse 2
गङ्गाया दक्षिणे देवि क्षेत्ररक्षणतत्परः । माघे कृष्णचतुर्दश्यां यस्तं पूजयते नरः
O Devī, to the south of the Gaṅgā there stands a divine guardian, intent on protecting the sacred kṣetra; whatever man worships him on the dark fourteenth of Māgha…
Verse 3
दिव्यमोदकनैवेद्यैः पुष्पधूपादिभिः क्रमात् । न तस्य जायते विघ्नं यावत्क्षेत्रे वसत्यसौ
With divine modakas as naivedya, and with flowers, incense, and the like in due order, no obstacle arises for him as long as he dwells in that sacred kṣetra.
Verse 230
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीति साहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये गणपतिमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम त्रिंशदुत्तरद्विशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends, in the holy Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the Ekāśīti-sāhasrī Saṃhitā, in the seventh book called Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, in the first division known as the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya—the chapter entitled “The Description of the Greatness of Gaṇapati,” being Chapter 230.