Adhyaya 358
This chapter gives a concise sacred site-description and phalaśruti focused on the Koṭīśvara Mahāliṅga. Introduced with “Īśvara uvāca,” it places Koṭinagara in the Īśāna (northeast) direction and locates the Koṭīśvara liṅga to its south, at a distance of one yojana. It then sets forth the rite: after bathing according to rule (vidhānena snātvā), one should worship the liṅga (liṅga-pūjā). The promised fruit is twofold—freedom from all sins (sarva-pātaka-mukti) and the merit equal to a koṭi-yajña, the reward of a crore of sacrifices (koṭi-yajña-phala). The colophon identifies it within the Skanda Purāṇa’s Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, in the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya section, as the narration of Koṭīśvara-māhātmya.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । तस्मादीशानदिग्भागे तत्कोटिनगरं स्मृतम् । तस्य दक्षिणदिग्भागे स्थितं योजनमात्रकम् । कोटीश्वरं महालिंगं कोटियज्ञफलप्रदम्
Īśvara said: “From there, in the north-eastern direction, lies the city known as Koṭinagara. To its south, about one yojana away, stands the great Liṅga called Koṭīśvara, bestowing the fruit of a crore of sacrifices.”
Verse 2
स्नात्वा तत्र विधानेन यस्तल्लिंगं प्रपूजयेत् । स मुक्तः पातकैः सर्वैः कोटियज्ञफलं लभेत्
Whoever bathes there according to the prescribed method and duly worships that Liṅga is freed from all sins and attains merit equal to a crore of sacrifices.
Verse 357
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये कोटीश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम सप्तपंचाशदुत्तरत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the three-hundred-and-fifty-eighth chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Koṭīśvara,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa—within the Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya—of the revered Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses.