Adhyaya 76
Chapter 76 is a brief theological and ritual notice presented as Īśvara’s discourse. It points to a highly meritorious pair of liṅgas near Devadeva, within the Someshvara-associated sacred region, and declares that they were established (pratiṣṭhita) by Lakulīśa. This twin shrine is called “Lakuleśvara” and is praised as an anuttama, supremely excellent object of darśana. The text adds a purification assurance: mere sight is said to free one from sin up to the very boundary of the birth-and-death cycle. A specific observance is prescribed in Bhādrapada on Śukla Caturdaśī—fasting (upavāsa) and night-vigil (prajāgara). The rite proceeds by first worshipping Lakulīśa in embodied form (mūrtimant), then worshipping the two liṅgas separately in proper order with sequential stuti-mantras. The declared fruit (phalaśruti) is attainment of the supreme abode where Maheśvara dwells, closing the chapter with a soteriological promise.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । तस्यैव देवदेवस्य समीपस्थं विराजते । लिंगद्वयं महापुण्यं लकुलीशप्रतिष्ठितम्
Īśvara said: “Near that very God of gods there shines a pair of most holy liṅgas, established by Lakulīśa.”
Verse 2
लकुले श्वरनामास्ति तस्य लिंगद्वयस्य वै । तद्दृष्ट्वा देवदेवस्य लिंगद्वयमनुत्तमम्
There is a sacred place known as Lakulīśvara, where indeed there are two liṅgas. On beholding those unsurpassed twin liṅgas of the God of gods (Mahādeva), one is filled with reverence.
Verse 3
मुच्यते सकलात्पापादाजन्ममरणांतिकात् । तत्र शुक्लचतुर्द्दश्यां मासि भाद्रपदे प्रिये
One is freed from all sins, even those that extend to the very end of birth and death. And there, O beloved, on the bright fourteenth lunar day (śukla-caturdaśī) in the month of Bhādrapada—
Verse 4
उपवासपरो भूत्वा यः करोति प्रजागरम् । मूर्त्तिमंतं तु संपूज्य लकुलीशं महाप्रभम्
Whoever, devoted to fasting, keeps a night-long vigil (prajāgara) and duly worships the great and radiant Lord Lakulīśa in his manifest form—
Verse 5
ततः संपूज्य विधिना तत्र लिंगद्वयं पृथक् । सम्यक्पूजाविधानेन स्तुतिमंत्रैरनुक्रमात् । स याति परमं स्थानं यत्र देवो महेश्वरः
Then, worshipping according to proper rule the two liṅgas there separately—by the correct procedure of pūjā and with hymns and mantras in due sequence—one attains the supreme abode where Lord Maheśvara dwells.
Verse 76
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये सोमेश्वरमाहात्म्ये कलकलेश्वरसमीपवर्ति लकुलीशलिंगद्वयमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम षट्सप्ततितमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the seventy-sixth chapter, entitled “The Description of the Greatness of the Twin Liṅga of Lakulīśa, situated near Kalakaleśvara,” in the Someśvara Māhātmya within the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses.