Adhyaya 362
Īśvara instructs Devī on a step-by-step pilgrimage within Prabhāsa-kṣetra. He first directs the pilgrim to Maṇḍūkeśvara, pointing out a liṅga established in association with Māṇḍūkyāyana. The account then names the nearby sacred water as Koṭihrada and identifies Koṭīśvara Śiva as the presiding form, with the Mātṛgaṇa stationed there to grant desired fruits. The rite is set forth: bathe in the Koṭihrada tīrtha, worship the liṅga, and also worship the Mātṛs; the promised result is freedom from duḥkha and śoka—suffering and grief. Next, it indicates another site one yojana to the east, Tritakūpa, praised as pure and as a destroyer of all sins, where the efficacy of many tīrthas is said to be gathered and “situated.” The colophon states that this is the 362nd adhyāya in this portion of the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि मण्डूकेश्वरमित्यपि । मांडूक्यायननाम्ना वै लिंगं तत्र प्रतिष्ठितम्
Īśvara said: Then, O great Goddess, one should also go to the shrine called Maṇḍūkeśvara. There a liṅga has indeed been consecrated under the name Māṇḍūkyāyana.
Verse 2
तत्र कोटिह्रदो देवि तथा कोटीश्वरः शिवः । तत्र मातृगणश्चैव स्थितः कामफलप्रदः
There, O Goddess, is Koṭihrada (the “Lake of a Crore”), and likewise Śiva as Koṭīśvara. There too abides the host of the Mothers (Mātṛgaṇa), bestowing the fruits of cherished desires.
Verse 3
स्नात्वा कोटि ह्रदे तीर्थे तल्लिंगं यः प्रपूजयेत् । मातॄस्तत्रैव संपूज्य दुःखशोकाद्विमुच्यते
Having bathed in the Koṭihrada tīrtha, whoever worships that liṅga and, in that very place, duly venerates the Mothers (Mātṛs), is freed from sorrow and suffering.
Verse 4
तस्मात्पूर्वेण देवेशि योजनैकेन निर्मलम् । त्रितकूपेति विख्यातं सर्वपातकनाशनम् । सर्वेषां देवि तीर्थानां यत्तत्रैव व्यवस्थितिः
From there, to the east, O Lady of the gods, at a distance of one yojana lies a pure place renowned as Tritakūpa, the destroyer of all sins. O Goddess, it is said that the sacred potency of all tīrthas is gathered and established there.
Verse 361
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये कोटिह्रद मण्डूकेश्वरमाहात्म्य वर्णनं नामैकषष्ट्युत्तरत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus, in the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses—this concludes the 361st chapter of the seventh, Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, in the first part, the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya, entitled “The Description of the Greatness of Koṭi-hrada and Maṇḍūkeśvara.”