Adhyaya 288
Īśvara (Śiva) speaks to Devī and gives route-like pilgrimage directions to the sacred spot called Bālāditya/Bālārka, said to lie east of Agastya’s place and marked by distance measures (gavyūti). The chapter also names nearby local features, including a place connected with Sapāṭikā, and affirms the shrine’s renown. It then relates an origin legend: the sage Viśvāmitra worships Vidyā (sacred learning) there, establishes a triad of liṅgas, and installs the solar form, Ravi. Through disciplined sādhana he gains siddhi from the Sun, and the deity becomes celebrated as Bālāditya/Bālārka. The discourse ends with a clear phalaśruti: whoever beholds (darśana) this Bhāskara—praised as a “thief of sins”—will not suffer poverty for as long as they live, highlighting the merit of sacred sight within the Prabhāsa pilgrimage.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि बालादित्यमिति श्रुतम् । अगत्स्यस्थानतः पूर्वे गव्यूतिद्वितयेन तु
Īśvara said: “Then, O great goddess, one should go to the place known as Bālāditya, lying two gavyūtis to the east of Agastya’s sacred spot.”
Verse 2
स्थानं सपाटिकानाम तस्यदक्षिणतः स्थितम् । गव्यूतिमात्रं देवेशि बालार्क इति विश्रुतम्
There is a place called Sapāṭikā; to its south, O Lady of the gods, at a distance of one gavyūti, lies what is famed as Bālārka.
Verse 3
यत्र चाराधिता विद्या विश्वामित्रेण धीमता । संस्थाप्य लिंगत्रितयं प्रतिष्ठाप्य तथा रविम्
There, the wise Viśvāmitra practised the discipline of sacred vidyā; and, having established three liṅgas, he also consecrated the Sun, Ravi.
Verse 4
विद्यायाः साधनं चक्रे सिद्धिं सूर्यादवाप्तवान् । बालादित्येति तेनासौ ततः ख्यातिमगात्प्रभुः
He undertook the sādhana of that vidyā and attained accomplishment through the Sun. Therefore that Lord became renowned by the name “Bālāditya.”
Verse 5
तं दृष्ट्वा मानवो देवि भास्करपापतस्करम् । न दारिद्र्यमवाप्नोति यावज्जीवति मानवः
O Goddess, one who beholds that Bhāskara—the Sun who steals away sins—does not fall into poverty for as long as he lives.
Verse 288
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये बालार्कमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनामाष्टाशीत्युत्तरद्विशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the eighty-one-thousand-verse Saṃhitā, within the seventh division—the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa—within the first part, the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya, ends the chapter named “The Description of the Glory of Bālārka,” being Chapter 288.