Adhyaya 44
Chapter 44, spoken by Īśvara, lays down a prescriptive theological and ritual sequence of worship. After honoring Ādityeśa, the practitioner proceeds to Someshvara and performs formal pūjā, giving special care to the fivefold limbs of devotion (pañcāṅga bhakti). The chapter emphasizes embodied reverence: full prostration (sāṣṭāṅga praṇipāta), circumambulation (pradakṣiṇā), and repeated, contemplative viewing—darśana again and again (punar-punaḥ darśana). A key doctrinal note identifies the liṅga as uniting solar and lunar principles (sūrya–candra), so the rite is framed as an agnīṣoma-oriented act that symbolically completes sacrificial intent through temple worship. From Someshvara the sacred route extends to nearby Umādevī, and then onward to another shrine station, Daityasūdana, indicating a connected pilgrimage circuit within Prabhāsa-kṣetra. The colophon concludes by naming this as the 44th adhyāya of the Someshvara-māhātmya within the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya of the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । आदित्येशं समभ्यर्च्य पुनः सोमेश्वरं व्रजेत् । तं संपूज्य विधानेन पंचांगेन विशेषतः
Īśvara said: Having duly worshiped Ādityeśa, one should then go to Someśvara. Worshiping Him fully according to the prescribed rite—especially by the fivefold method—
Verse 2
दृष्ट्वा सोमेश्वरं चैव साष्टांगं प्रणिपत्य च । प्रदक्षिणादिकं कुर्यात्संपश्येच्च पुनःपुनः
Having beheld Someśvara, and having bowed with the eight-limbed prostration, one should perform circumambulation and the like—and behold Him again and again.
Verse 3
सूर्याचन्द्रमसोर्लिंगं त्रिःकृत्वा प्रयतः शुचिः । अग्नीषोमात्मकं कर्म तेन सर्वं कृतं भवेत्
Pure and self-restrained, one should perform the rite of the Sun-and-Moon liṅga three times. Since this act is of the nature of Agni and Soma, by it one’s entire religious duty is regarded as accomplished.
Verse 4
उमादेवीं ततो गच्छेत्सोमेश्वरसमीपतः । द्वितीयां तु ततो गच्छेद्दैत्यसूदनसन्निधौ
Then one should proceed to the shrine of Umādevī near Someśvara; and thereafter, to the second sacred spot, in the presence of Daityasūdana.
Verse 44
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रमासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये सोमेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम चतुश्चत्वारिंशोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the forty-fourth chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Someśvara,” in the first part of the Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya, within the seventh book, the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, of the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the eighty-one-thousand-verse Saṃhitā.