Adhyaya 328
This chapter presents a concise theological and ritual injunction spoken by Īśvara. Saṅgameśvara is proclaimed a sin-destroying Śaiva holy place in the vāyavya (northwestern) quarter, famed as a meeting-ground of ṛṣis, thereby affirming its authority and sanctity. Īśvara then indicates a nearby eastern area where the sacred pool Kuṇḍikā is praised as pāpa-nāśinī (sin-removing) and linked with the presence of Sarasvatī, depicted as arriving joined with a fiery potency (vaḍavānala). The prescribed observance is sequential: bathe in Kuṇḍikā and then worship Saṅgameśvara. The phalaśruti promises enduring auspiciousness—no separation from prosperity and beloved offspring across many births—and a sweeping removal of sins from birth to death, uniting ethical purification with devotional consolidation.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । तस्माद्वायव्यदिग्भागे स्थितं पापप्रणाशनम् । संगमेश्वरनामाढ्यमृषयो यत्र संगताः
Īśvara said: Therefore, to the northwest of that place stands a sin-destroying holy spot, famed by the name Saṃgameśvara, where the sages assemble.
Verse 2
तस्यैव पूर्वदिग्भागे कुण्डिका पापनाशिनी । वडवानलसंयुक्ता यत्रायाता सरस्वती
To the east of that very place is Kuṇḍikā, a sin-destroying sacred water, associated with the Vaḍavānala; it is the spot where Sarasvatī is said to have arrived.
Verse 3
कुंडिकायां नरः स्नात्वा संगमेश्वरमर्चयेत् । तस्य जन्मसहस्राणि लक्ष्म्याः पुत्रै प्रियैः सह । असंगमं महादेवि न कदाचित्प्रजायते
After bathing in Kuṇḍikā, a man should worship Saṃgameśvara. For him, across a thousand births, prosperity endures together with beloved sons; and, O Great Goddess, separation from good company or auspicious association never arises.
Verse 4
मुच्यते पातकैः सर्वैराजन्म मरणांतिकैः
He is freed from all sins—those accumulated from birth up to the very end of death.
Verse 328
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये संगमेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनं नामाष्टाविंशत्युत्तरत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends chapter 328, called “The Description of the Greatness of Saṃgameśvara,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa (Book Seven) of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, within the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya (First subdivision), in the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand.