Adhyaya 55
Īśvara instructs the Goddess to go to Vimaleśvara, a shrine not far away, located with reference to Gaurī and the nairṛtya (south‑western) direction. It is praised as a pāpa-praṇāśana, a sin-destroying holy locus, effective for women and men alike, even for those suffering bodily decline. Worship performed with devotion (bhakti-yukta arcana) is taught as the means: through it suffering ceases and one attains a nirmala, purified state. The chapter also explains the site’s fame by linking it to Gandharva-senā and the figure Vimalā, hence the liṅga is renowned on earth as Vimaleśvara. It concludes by marking this account as the fourth in a sequence of māhātmyas and by emphasizing its power to destroy all sins.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि तत्पूर्वे विमलेश्वरम् । गौर्याः पूर्वं समीपस्थं नातिदूरे व्यवस्थितम्
Īśvara said: Then, O great goddess, one should go east of that place to Vimaleśvara—situated close by, not far away, to the east of Gaurī.
Verse 2
गुरोर्नैरृत्यदिग्भागे स्थितं पापप्रणाशनम् । अपि कृत्वा महापापं नारी वा पुरुषोऽपि वा
In the south-western quarter of the Guru’s shrine stands that which destroys sins. Even if a woman or a man has committed a great sin…
Verse 3
क्षयाभिभूतदेहो वा तं समभ्यर्च्य भक्तितः । सर्वदुःखान्तगो भूत्वा निर्मलं पदमाप्नुयात्
Even if one’s body is afflicted by a wasting disease, by worshipping Him with devotion one reaches the end of all sorrows and attains the stainless state.
Verse 4
गंधर्वसेना यत्रैव विमलाऽभूत्क्षया न्विता । विमलेश्वरनाम्ना वै तल्लिंगं प्रथितं क्षितौ
At that very place, Gandharvasenā was purified and freed from her wasting affliction. Therefore, that Liṅga is renowned on earth by the name Vimaleśvara.
Verse 5
इति ते कथितं सर्वं विमलेश्वरसूचकम् । माहात्म्यं सर्वपापघ्नं तुरीयं भवसुन्दरि
Thus I have told you everything that indicates Vimaleśvara—this fourth māhātmya, O fair one, which destroys all sins.
Verse 55
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखंडे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये विमलेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम पञ्चपञ्चाशोऽध्यायः
Thus, in the holy Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the eighty-one-thousand-verse Saṃhitā—ends the fifty-fifth chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Vimaleśvara,” in the seventh book, the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, in the first part, the Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya.