Adhyaya 233
This adhyāya is a concise theological instruction in which Īśvara speaks to Devī about a cluster of five liṅgas established at Prabhāsa-kṣetra. It declares that these liṅgas were consecrated and firmly installed (pratiṣṭhita) by the great-souled Pāṇḍavas, thereby linking the shrine to epic lineage memory and strengthening the authority of its worship. The discourse then states its phalaśruti plainly: whoever worships these liṅgas with devotion (bhakti) is freed from sins (pātaka). The chapter’s focus is the saving efficacy of bhakti-infused liṅga-pūjā at an authenticated sacred site, with the Pāṇḍava association serving as legitimizing sacred history rather than extended narrative action.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । तत्रैव पूजयेद्देवि पंच लिंगानि भावितः । प्रतिष्ठितानि देवेशि पांडवैश्च महात्मभिः
Īśvara said: “There itself, O Goddess, a devoted pilgrim should worship the five liṅgas, O Lady of the gods—liṅgas that were established by the great-souled Pāṇḍavas.”
Verse 2
यस्तान्पूजयते भक्त्या स मुक्तः पातकैर्भवेत्
Whoever worships those liṅgas with devotion becomes freed from sins.
Verse 233
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये पांडवेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम त्रयस्त्रिंशदुत्तरद्विशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus, in the revered Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses, in the seventh—Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa—within the first section, the Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya, ends the chapter entitled “The Description of the Glory of Pāṇḍaveśvara,” being Chapter 233.