Adhyaya 266
This adhyāya is framed as Īśvara’s instruction to Mahādevī, directing her attention to the shrine of Kumbhīśvara—praised as “unsurpassed”—located a short distance to the east of Śarabhasthāna. Its central movement is both topographic and salvific: it places the shrine within the Prabhāsa pilgrimage landscape and clarifies its sacred standing. A brief phalaśruti then declares the chapter’s key promise: mere darśana, the reverent sight of Kumbhīśvara, frees a person from all sins (sarva-pātaka). Sacred geography is thus presented as an ethical and ritual means of purification and release. The closing colophon identifies the text as part of the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of 81,000 verses, within the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa, first Prabhāsakṣetra-māhātmya, and names this as the 266th chapter.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि कुम्भीश्वरमनुत्तमम् । शरभस्थानतः पूर्वे नातिदूरे व्यवस्थितम् । तं दृष्ट्वा मानवो देवि मुच्यते सर्वपातकैः
Īśvara said: “Then, O great goddess, one should go to the unsurpassed Kumbhīśvara, situated not far to the east of Śarabha-sthāna. Seeing it, O goddess, a person is freed from all sins.”
Verse 266
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये कुंभीश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम षट्षष्ट्युत्तरद्विशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the 266th chapter, entitled “The Description of the Greatness of Kumbhīśvara,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa (Book Seven) of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, within the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya (first division).