Adhyaya 80
This chapter is a brief shrine-mahātmya cast as Īśvara’s instruction to Devī. It identifies a sin-destroying liṅga named Gautameśvara in the eastern quarter, described with reference to a western marker linked to Daitya-sūdana, and specifies its range as “within five dhanus.” The shrine is praised as granting all desired aims (sarva-kāma-da). An origin note credits King Śalya of Madra, who performed intense tapas and propitiated Maheśvara, with establishing its worship; the text adds that other devotees who worship in the same manner attain supreme siddhi. A calendrical rite is prescribed: on the bright fortnight’s fourteenth day of Caitra, one should bathe (snāpana) the liṅga with milk, then worship with fragrant water and excellent flowers in a rule-based, devotional way, gaining merit equal to an aśvamedha. The phalaśruti concludes that sins of speech, mind, and body are destroyed by merely beholding this liṅga.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । तस्यैव पूर्वदिग्भागे लिंगं पातकनाशनम् । गौतमेश्वरनामाढ्यं दैत्यसूदनपश्चिमे
Īśvara said: In the eastern quarter of that very sacred region stands a liṅga that destroys sins, renowned by the name “Gautameśvara,” situated to the west of Daityasūdana.
Verse 2
धनुषां पंचके देवि संस्थितं सर्वकामदम् । शल्येनाराधितं यद्वै मद्रराजेन भामिनि
O Goddess, it is situated at a distance of five bow-lengths and grants all desired aims. Indeed, it was worshipped by Śalya, the king of Madra, O fair one.
Verse 3
ततः कृतं तपश्चोग्रं समाराध्य महेश्वरम् । अन्योऽप्येवं नरो यस्तु तं समाराधयिष्यति
Then, having performed fierce austerity and duly propitiated Maheśvara, so too any other person who worships Him in this very manner—
Verse 4
स प्राप्स्यति परां सिद्धिं यथा शल्यो महामनाः । चैत्र शुक्लचतुर्द्दश्यां स्नापयेत्पयसा तु यः
He will attain the supreme perfection, just as the great-souled Śalya did. And whoever, on the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight of Caitra, bathes the Liṅga with milk—
Verse 5
गंधोदकेन च ततः पूजयेत्कुसुमोत्तमैः । तथैव विधिवद्भक्त्या सोऽश्वमेधफलं लभेत्
Then one should worship the Lord with fragrant water and the finest flowers. Performed according to rite and with devotion, that worshipper gains merit equal to the fruit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice.
Verse 6
वाचा कृतं च यत्पापं मनसा कर्मणाऽथ वा । तत्सर्वं नश्यते देवि तस्य लिंगस्य दर्शनात्
Whatever sin has been committed by speech, by mind, or by deed—O Devī—all of it is destroyed by merely beholding that Liṅga.
Verse 80
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एका शीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये गौतमेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनामाशीतितमोऽध्यायः
Thus, in the holy Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Ekāśīti-sāhasrī Saṃhitā, in the seventh book called Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, within the first division, the Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya—here ends the eightieth chapter, named “The Description of the Greatness of Gautameśvara.”