Adhyaya 348
This adhyāya gives a brief yet prescriptive tīrtha instruction, framed as Īśvara’s discourse. The devotee, reverently addressing Mahādevī, is directed to go westward to the shrine of Nāradeśvarī, whose immediate presence (sānnidhya) is praised as the destroyer of all misfortune (sarva-daurbhāgya-nāśinī). A specific devotional rule is taught: a woman who worships the Goddess with composed mind on the third lunar day (tṛtīyā) establishes a protective merit, so that in her lineage women will not be marked by misfortune. Thus the chapter serves as a micro-māhātmya—stating the place, the ritual time, and the promised fruit of eradicating and preventing daurbhāgya—concluding by identifying itself as the Nāradeśvarī-māhātmya within the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि पश्चिमे नारदेश्वरीम् । नारदेश्वरसांनिध्ये सर्वदौर्भाग्यनाशनीम्
Īśvara said: “Then, O great goddess, one should go westward to Nāradeśvarī. In the proximity of Nāradeśvara, she destroys every form of ill-fortune.”
Verse 2
या नारी पूजयेद्देवीं तृतीयायां समाहिता । तदन्वये न दौर्भाग्ययुक्ता नारी भविष्यति
Any woman who, with focused mind, worships the Goddess on the third lunar day (Tṛtīyā)—in her lineage no woman will become afflicted with misfortune.
Verse 347
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये नारदेश्वरीमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम सप्तचत्वारिंशदुत्तरत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the three-hundred-and-forty-eighth chapter, entitled “The Account of the Greatness of Nāradeśvarī,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, within the Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya.