The Skanda Purana
by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 2,545,880 words
This page describes Greatness of Kumareshvara (Kumara-ishvara) which is chapter 73 of the English translation of the Skanda Purana, the largest of the eighteen Mahapuranas, preserving the ancient Indian society and Hindu traditions in an encyclopedic format, detailling on topics such as dharma (virtous lifestyle), cosmogony (creation of the universe), mythology (itihasa), genealogy (vamsha) etc. This is the seventy-third chapter of the Prabhasa-kshetra-mahatmya of the Prabhasa Khanda of the Skanda Purana.
Chapter 73 - Greatness of Kumāreśvara (Kumāra-īśvara)
[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]
Īśvara said:
1-3. Thereafter, a pilgrim should go to the excellent shrine of Kumāreśvara. The Liṅga is highly powerful and is destructive of great sins.
O goddess, it is stationed within thirty Dhanus to the southwest of Varuṇeśvara. O goddess, it is stationed on the southern side of Gaurī’s penance-grove. O great goddess, after performing a great penance there, the great Liṅga was installed by the Six-faced Lord. Therefore, it became Kumāreśa.
4-5. If a devotee worships (the Liṅga) duly, he gets much merit in a single day by adoring Kumāreśa once. He gets the entire merit of six months of adoration by worshipping for a month continuously.
6. If a person eschews lust, anger, avariciousness, passion and rivalry, it is enough if the devotee worships him once. He should be celibate and shall conquer the sense-organs.
7. If he is worshipped thus, O goddess, a pilgrim gets the entire benefit of a perfect pilgrimage.