Adhyaya 73
This chapter unfolds as a Śiva–Devī theological dialogue that also serves as a brief route-guide within Prabhāsa-kṣetra. Īśvara directs Devī to the shrine of Kumāreśvara, praising its liṅga as supremely potent and able to destroy major sins (mahāpātaka-nāśana). The shrine is located through directional markers associated with Varuṇa and Naiṛta and by the landmark Gaurī-tapovana, placing it within a navigable sacred landscape. An origin account states that Ṣaṇmukha (Kumāra/Skanda) established this liṅga after performing great tapas, thereby explaining the shrine’s name and authority. The chapter then sets out a comparative calculus of merit: one day of proper worship of Kumāreśvara, performed according to vidhi, is said to yield the full merit that elsewhere would require months of worship. Ethical prerequisites are emphasized—abandoning kāma, krodha, lobha, rāga, and matsara, and adopting brahmacarya or ascetic restraint even for a single act of worship. The conclusion affirms that correct worship grants the true fruit of pilgrimage (yātrā-phala).
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि कुमारेश्वरमुत्तमम् । लिंगं महाप्रभावं हि महापातकनाशनम्
Īśvara said: Then, O Great Goddess, one should proceed to the excellent Kumāreśvara—an immensely powerful Liṅga that destroys even the gravest sins.
Verse 2
धनुषां त्रिंशता देवि वरुणान्नैऋते स्थितम् । गौरीतपोवनाद्देवि दक्षिण स्थानसंस्थितम्
O Goddess, it is situated thirty bow-lengths to the south-west of Varuṇa, and lies to the south of Gaurī’s grove of austerities.
Verse 3
षण्मुखेन महादेवि तत्र कृत्वा महत्तपः । प्रतिष्ठितं महालिंगं कुमारेशस्ततोऽभवत्
O Great Goddess, after Ṣaṇmukha performed great austerity there, a great Liṅga was established; from that, it came to be known as Kumāreśvara.
Verse 4
यस्तं पूजयते भक्त्या मासमेकं निरन्तरम् । षण्मासस्यार्चनेनैव यत्पुण्यमुपजायते
Whoever worships Him with devotion continuously for a single month gains the very merit that otherwise arises from worship performed over six months.
Verse 5
तत्पुण्यं सकलं तस्य कुमारेशार्चनात्सकृत् । लभते दिवसैकेन विधिना यदि पूजयेत्
All that merit, in its entirety, he obtains by worshipping Kumāreśa even once—if he performs the rite properly—within a single day.
Verse 6
कामं क्रोधं तथा लोभं रागं त्यक्त्वा तु मत्सरम् । ब्रह्मचारी यतिर्भूत्वा सकृदप्येनमर्चयेत्
Having abandoned desire, anger, greed, attachment, and jealousy, becoming celibate and disciplined like an ascetic, one should worship Him even once.
Verse 7
एवं संपूजिते देवि सम्यग्यात्रा फलं लभेत्
O Goddess, when He is thus duly worshipped, one attains the full and proper fruit of pilgrimage.
Verse 73
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखंडे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये कुमारेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनं नाम त्रिसप्ततितमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the seventy-third chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Kumāreśvara,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, within the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya, of the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa in the Ekāśīti-sāhasrī Saṃhitā.