Adhyaya 312
This chapter, framed as Īśvara’s discourse, gives a brief instruction on the sacred site and its observance. It first places the shrine of Bakulsvāmin—identified with Sūrya—in the northern sector, at a measured distance of “eight bows,” and praises the darśana of this solar form as a destroyer of sorrow and affliction (duḥkha-nāśana). It then prescribes a specific vow: when Sunday (ravivāra) coincides with the seventh lunar day (saptamī), one should keep an all-night vigil (jāgaraṇa). The stated fruit is the fulfillment of desired aims and the gaining of honor or exaltation in Sūrya-loka. The colophon notes the setting within the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, in the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya section, naming the chapter as the narration of Bakulsvāmin’s glory.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । तस्मादुत्तरदिग्भागे धनुषामष्टभिः प्रिये । बकुलस्वामिनं सूर्यं तं पश्येद्दुःखनाशनम्
Īśvara said: “From there, O beloved, in the northern quarter at a distance of eight dhanuṣ, one should behold Sūrya known as Bakula-svāmin—he who destroys sorrow.”
Verse 2
रविवारेण सप्तम्यां कुर्याज्जागरणं नरः । सर्वान्कामानवाप्नोति सूर्यलोके महीयते
On a Sunday, on the seventh lunar day (Saptamī), a person should keep vigil. He obtains all desired aims and is honored in the world of Sūrya.
Verse 312
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखंडे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये बकुलस्वामिमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम द्वाद शोत्तरत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the three-hundred-and-twelfth chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Bakula-svāmin,” in the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa, within the Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya of the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa (eighty-one-thousand-verse Saṃhitā).