Adhyaya 254
This adhyāya is a compact māhātmya passage spoken as Īśvara’s instruction. It declares that at Prabhāsa there is a sacred presence called Ghanteśvara, praised as the destroyer of all sins (sarva-pātaka-nāśana) and worthy of reverence by both devas and dānavas. The shrine is said to have been worshipped by ṛṣis and siddhas and to grant wished-for results (vāñchitārtha-phala-prada). A calendrical observance is then given: a human devotee who worships Ghanteśvara on the eighth lunar day (aṣṭamī) when it falls on Monday (Soma-vāra) attains desired aims and is described as freed from sin. The chapter ends with a colophon placing it in the Skanda Purāṇa’s Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, within the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, and naming it as the 254th adhyāya.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । तत्रैव संस्थितं पश्येत्सर्वपातकनाशनम् । घण्टेश्वरमिति ख्यातं देवदानववन्दितम् । पूजितं ह्यृषिभिः सिद्धैर्वांछितार्थफलप्रदम्
Īśvara said: “Right there one should behold the one situated there, the destroyer of all sins—known as Ghaṇṭeśvara, worshipped by gods and dānavas. Worshipped indeed by ṛṣis and siddhas, it grants the fruits of desired aims.”
Verse 2
वारे सोमस्य चाष्टम्यां यस्तं पूजयते नरः । स लभेद्वांछितान्कामान्मुक्तः स्यात्पातकेन हि
“If a person worships him on a Monday, and also on the eighth lunar day (Aṣṭamī), he obtains the desires he longs for and becomes freed from sin.”
Verse 254
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये घंटेश्वरमाहारत्म्यवर्णनंनाम चतुष्पञ्चाशदुत्तरद्विशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the two-hundred-and-fifty-fourth chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Ghaṇṭeśvara,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa (Book Seven) of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Ekāśītisāhasrī Saṃhitā, within the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya (First division).