Adhyaya 315
This chapter gives a brief kṣetra-instruction within a Śiva–Devī dialogue. Īśvara directs Mahādevī to go to a radiant place called Mārudāryā, situated toward the western quarter at a measured distance of half a krośa. The goddess there is said to be worshipped by the Maruts and to grant the “fruit of all desires” (sarva-kāma-phala). The teaching then turns to time and procedure: the practitioner is enjoined to worship with care especially on Mahānavamī, and also on Saptamī, using customary offerings such as fragrance and flowers (gandha-puṣpa-ādi). The chapter highlights the Purāṇic linkage of place, calendar, and ritual method—where, when, and how—as a disciplined devotional means for attaining desired aims and religious merit.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि मरुदार्यां महाप्रभाम् । तस्मात्पश्चिमदिग्भागे क्रोशार्द्धेन व्यवस्थिताम्
Īśvara said: Then, O Great Goddess, one should go to the radiant Marudāryā. She is situated to the west of that place, at a distance of half a krośa.
Verse 2
मरुद्भिः पूजितां देवीं सर्वकामफलप्रदाम् । महानवम्यां यत्नेन सप्तम्यां पूजयेन्नरः । गंधपुष्पादिविधिना सर्वकामप्रसिद्धये
That Goddess, worshipped by the Maruts, grants the fruits of all desired aims. A person should worship her with earnest effort—on Saptamī and especially on Mahānavamī—by offerings of fragrance, flowers, and the like, for the fulfillment of all desires.
Verse 315
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये मरुदार्यादेवीमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम पंचदशोत्तरत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the three-hundred-and-fifteenth chapter, entitled “The Account of the Greatness of Marudāryā Devī,” in the first Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya of the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa (in the eighty-one-thousand-verse Saṃhitā).