Adhyaya 352
Īśvara instructs Devī in a direction-based pilgrimage route to Supārṇelā and the associated Bhairavī sacred spot, said to lie south of Durga-kūṭa at a measured distance. The chapter then explains the site’s origin: once Garuḍa (Supārṇa) brought amṛta up from Pātāla and released it there before the nāgas; watched and guarded by the nāgas, the place became famed on earth as Supārṇelā. The ground is identified as “Ilā” established by Supārṇa, and the very name Supārṇelā is explicitly connected with the destruction of pāpa (sin). A practical observance is laid down—bathe at Supārṇa-kuṇḍa, worship at the holy place, and perform dāna and anna-dāna by honoring and feeding brāhmaṇas. The phala-śruti is specific: protection from fatal dangers and auspicious household results, including a woman becoming jīva-vatsā (her children living) and being adorned with offspring through proper pilgrimage conduct.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि सुपर्णेलां च भैरवीम् । दुर्गकूटाद्दक्षिणतो धनुःपंचशतांतरे
Īśvara said: “Then, O great Goddess, one should go to Suparṇelā, the Bhairavī. She lies to the south of Durgakūṭa, at a distance of five hundred dhanus.”
Verse 2
सुपर्णेन पुरा देवि पातालादमृतं हृतम् । गृहीत्वा तत्र मुक्तं तु नागानां पश्यतां किल
Formerly, O Goddess, Suparṇa carried off the amṛta from Pātāla; having seized it, he released it there, while the Nāgas looked on, so it is said.
Verse 3
ततो देव्या तदा दृष्ट्वा रक्षितं नागपार्श्वतः । ततः सुपर्णेलेत्येवं ख्याता सा वसुधातले
Then the Goddess, seeing it guarded at the side of the Nāgas, caused her to be known on earth thereafter by the name “Suparṇelā.”
Verse 4
इला तु कथ्यते भूमिः सुपर्णेन प्रतिष्ठिता । ततः सुपर्णेलेत्येव नाम्ना पातकनाशिनी
The earth is called Ilā, and it was established by Suparṇa (Garuḍa). Therefore she is known by the name “Suparṇelā”—the destroyer of sins.
Verse 5
सुपर्णकुण्डे तत्रैव स्नात्वा तां पूजयेन्नरः । विप्रेभ्यो भोजनं दद्यान्नापद्भिर्म्रियते नरः । जीववत्सा भवेन्नारी आत्मजैश्चाप्यलंकृता
There itself, at Suparṇakuṇḍa, having bathed, a man should worship her and give food to the brāhmaṇas. That man does not die through calamities; and a woman becomes blessed with living children, adorned also with sons.
Verse 351
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखंडे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये सुपर्णेलामाहात्म्यवर्णनंनामैकपञ्चाशदुत्तरत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends, in the revered Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the eighty-one-thousand-verse compendium—within the seventh, the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, and within the first division, the Māhātmya of the sacred Prabhāsa-kṣetra, the chapter entitled “The Description of the Greatness of Suparṇelā,” being Chapter 352.