Adhyaya 318
This adhyāya is a brief theological notice embedded in the mapping of Prabhāsa-kṣetra. Īśvara points out a highly efficacious liṅga located “in the eastern quarter, not far” from the reference spot, stressing its power of pāpa-kṣaya—the removal or attenuation of sin. The liṅga is named Brahmeśvara and is said to have been established by brāhmaṇas, affirming the legitimacy of its pratiṣṭhā lineage. A ritual sequence is implied: first bathe in the sacred waters of Ṛṣitoya-jala, then worship the liṅga. The promised fruit is both socio-religious and cognitive: the devotee becomes a veda-vid (knower of the Veda), a qualified brāhmaṇa, and is freed from jāḍya-bhāva—dullness and mental inertia. Thus the chapter links geography (eastward placement), ritual order (snāna → pūjā), and a phalaśruti of ethical purification and knowledge-centered transformation.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । तस्याश्च पूर्वदिग्भागे नातिदूरे व्यवस्थितम् । लिंगं महाप्रभावं हि सर्वपातकनाशनम्
Īśvara said: “To the east of that sacred spot, not far away, there stands a Liṅga of great power—one that destroys all sins.”
Verse 2
ब्रह्मेश्वरेति नामाढ्यं ब्राह्मणैश्च प्रतिष्ठितम् । ऋषितोयाजले स्नात्वा तल्लिंगं यः प्रपूजयेत् । स भवेद्वेदविद्विप्रो जाड्यभावविवर्जितः
It is renowned by the name “Brahmeśvara” and was established by brāhmaṇas. Having bathed in the water called Ṛṣitoya, whoever worships that Liṅga with full reverence becomes a brāhmaṇa-knower of the Veda, free from dullness and ignorance.
Verse 318
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखंडे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये ब्रह्मेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनामाष्टादशोत्तरत्रिशततमो ऽध्यायः
Thus ends, in the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the collection of eighty-one thousand verses—in the seventh, the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, and in the first division, the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya, the chapter entitled “Description of the Greatness of Brahmeśvara,” being Chapter 318.