Adhyaya 275
This chapter gives concise guidance on the sacred site of Trinetreśvara, Śiva in his three-eyed form, connected with a tīrtha near Ṛṣi-tīrtha. Īśvara speaks to Mahādevī, directing pilgrims to approach and worship the three-eyed Lord at a place described as north of the bank of Nyanku-matī, long revered by sages. The water there is praised as crystal-clear, and a distinctive aquatic mark—evoked through fish imagery—identifies the tīrtha. Its central doctrinal-ritual claim is purification: bathing at this spot is said to free one from the sin-category of brahmahatyā. The text then prescribes a calendrical vrata: on the caturdaśī of the kṛṣṇa-pakṣa in Bhādrapada, one should fast and keep a night vigil. At dawn, one performs śrāddha and worships Śiva in the proper manner. The phalaśruti promises the reward of prolonged residence in Rudra-loka, expressed in a large, formulaic span of time. In this way, correct tīrtha practice and ritual observance are linked to postmortem merit within a Śaiva soteriological frame.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि देवं चैव त्रिलोचनम् । ऋषितीर्थसमीपे तु सर्वपातकनाशनम् । न्यङ्कुमत्युत्तरे कूल ऋषिभिः पूजितं पुरा
Īśvara said: Then, O Great Goddess, one should go to the god Trilocana, the Three-Eyed Lord, near Ṛṣitīrtha—the destroyer of all sins—on the northern bank of the Nyaṅkumatī, worshipped of old by the sages.
Verse 2
त्रिनेत्रा मत्स्यका यत्र जलं स्फटिकसन्निभम् । तत्र स्नात्वा नरो देवि मुच्यते ब्रह्महत्यया
O Goddess, where the fish called Trinetrā dwell and the water is crystal-clear, by bathing there a person is freed from the sin of brahma-hatyā—the slaying of a brāhmaṇa.
Verse 3
कृष्णपक्षे चतुर्द्दश्यां मासे भाद्रपदे तथा । उपवासं तु कुर्वीत रात्रौ जागरणं तथा
On the caturdaśī, the fourteenth lunar day of the dark fortnight in the month of Bhādrapada, one should observe a fast, and likewise keep sacred vigil through the night.
Verse 4
प्रातः श्राद्धं प्रकुर्वीत विधिवत्पूजयेच्छिवम् । रुद्रलोके वसेद्देवि वर्षाणामयुतत्रयम्
In the morning one should duly perform śrāddha, and worship Śiva according to proper rite. O Devī, one then dwells in Rudra’s world for thirty thousand years.
Verse 275
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये त्रिनेत्रेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम पञ्चसप्तत्युत्तरद्विशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends, in the revered Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the compendium of eighty-one thousand verses—within the seventh, the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa, and in its first part, the Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya, the chapter entitled “Narration of the Greatness of Trinetreśvara,” being Chapter 275.