Skanda Purana

01A Purana of places

Walk into the office of almost any old temple and ask for its sthala purana, and you will often be told it comes from the Skanda. The Kedara Khanda for the Himalayan shrines. The Venkatachala Mahatmya for Tirumala. The Purushottama Kshetra Mahatmya for Puri. The Arunachala Mahatmya for Tiruvannamalai. The Setu Mahatmya for Rameswaram. The Avanti Khanda for Ujjain and Mahakal. The Prabhasa Khanda for Somnath. No other scripture gathers so many tirthas between two covers, and none is longer: the Bhagavata counts it at 81,100 shlokas.

02Vyasa's work, Skanda's voice

Like every Mahapurana, the Skanda is the work of Maharshi Vyasa, handed to Suta and recited to the rishis of Naimisharanya. It takes its name from Bhagwan Skanda, Kartikeya, the six-faced son of Shiva, who speaks much of it himself. In the Kashi Khanda it is Skanda who answers Agastya's questions about Varanasi, lingam by lingam. The colophons call the whole an ekashiti-sahasri samhita, a collection of eighty-one thousand. Two arrangements have come down: seven khandas, as printed by the Venkateshvara Press in Mumbai, and six samhitas, of which the Suta Samhita is the best known.

03The five marks, spread thin

The Skanda keeps the five marks of a Purana, but lightly. Sarga and pratisarga, creation and re-creation, appear where a mahatmya needs them: the Arunachala Mahatmya opens with the pillar of fire that neither Brahma nor Vishnu could measure, because that pillar is the hill. Vamsha and vamshanucharita, the lineages and the deeds of kings, come in as the founders of tirthas, Indradyumna at Puri, Shri Rama at the Setu. Manvantaras are counted in passing. The weight falls elsewhere. Of all the Puranas this is the one where sacred geography is the main subject.

04Kedara, Kaumarika, Arunachala

The Maheshvara Khanda begins in the Himalaya. Its Kedara Khanda tells of Daksha's yajna and Sati, the churning of the ocean, and Parvati's tapas and marriage to Shiva. The Kaumarika Khanda gives Kartikeya's birth and his victory over Tarakasura, and the tirthas where the Mahi river meets the western sea. The Arunachala Mahatmya carries the reader south to Tiruvannamalai, where Shiva stood as a column of light without end. When the great lamp is lit on the hilltop each Karthigai, Shaiva households there are keeping that katha.

05The Vaishnava Khanda

The second khanda belongs to Bhagwan Vishnu. The Venkatachala Mahatmya tells how Shrinivasa came to dwell on the seven hills and declares that there is no place in the cosmos equal to Venkatadri. The Purushottama Kshetra Mahatmya tells of King Indradyumna, the wooden form of Jagannatha and the sea at Puri. Then come Badarikashrama, Ayodhya, and the month-mahatmyas for Kartika, Margashirsha and Vaishakha. A Bhagavata Mahatmya here explains how the Shrimad Bhagavata came to be heard in seven days. Vaishnava households open this khanda more than any other part of the Skanda.

06Setu, Kashi and the Narmada

The Brahma Khanda opens with the Setu Khanda. Shri Rama, returning from Lanka, worships Shiva on the shore, and the linga of Rameswaram, the tirthas of Gandhamadana and Dhanushkodi are praised one by one. The Kashi Khanda begins with the Vindhya mountain swelling in pride until it blocked the sun. Agastya went south, Vindhya bowed to him, and Agastya told him to stay bowed until he returned. He never came back. Longing for Kashi all his life, he hears its glory from Skanda in a hundred adhyayas. The Avanti Khanda holds Ujjain's eighty-four lingas and the Reva Khanda of the Narmada.

07Hara and Hari together

Named for Shiva's son and spoken largely in a Shaiva setting, the Skanda gives Shiva the Kedara, Arunachala, Kashi and Avanti sections, and the Brahmottara Khanda on Pradosha, the Panchakshara and the wearing of bhasma and rudraksha. Yet its second khanda is wholly Vaishnava, and Shri Rama himself worships Shiva at the Setu. Shaivas, Vaishnavas and Smartas each find their own devotion told in full here. The Purana does not set one against another; it walks from one shrine to the next, and at each it praises the deity who lives there.

08In homes and on pilgrimage

Far from the temples, the Skanda enters homes through small texts. The Satyanarayana vrata katha, read on Purnima and at housewarmings, is printed as coming from its Reva Khanda. The Guru Gita, a dialogue of Shiva and Parvati, names itself in its colophon as part of the Skanda, and many ashrams recite it on Guru Purnima. In Kartika, women bathe before dawn and float lamps, following the Kartika Mahatmya. Pilgrims walking the Panchakroshi round of Varanasi, or Ujjain's eighty-four Mahadevas, are walking routes the Skanda laid down. If you go to Kashi, ask a panda for the Kashi Khanda; most will quote it from memory.

09Editions and commentaries

The complete Sanskrit text in seven khandas was printed by Khemraj Shrikrishnadas at the Venkateshvara Press, Mumbai, and that is the edition most libraries hold. Gita Press, Gorakhpur, publishes a Sankshipta Skanda Purana in Hindi, abridged but faithful in its order. Motilal Banarsidass brought out a full English translation in its Ancient Indian Tradition series, running to many volumes. Of the six-samhita arrangement, the Suta Samhita was commented upon by Madhavacharya in the Tatparya Dipika and is studied by Advaita teachers. Single mahatmyas, the Kashi Khanda above all, circulate on their own with Hindi translations.

What it contains

1. 1
   Maheshvara Khanda माहेश्वरखण्डः

   Three sub-khandas: Kedara, Kaumarika and Arunachala. Daksha's yajna, the churning, and Shiva's marriage to Parvati open it; Kartikeya's victory over Taraka follows. The Arunachala Mahatmya, in two halves, tells of the column of light at Tiruvannamalai.

2. 2
   Vaishnava Khanda वैष्णवखण्डः

   Venkatachala Mahatmya, Purushottama Kshetra (Jagannatha) Mahatmya, Badarikashrama Mahatmya and Ayodhya Mahatmya, with the month-mahatmyas of Kartika, Margashirsha and Vaishakha. It also holds a Bhagavata Mahatmya on hearing the Bhagavata in seven days. Tirumala and Puri both draw their sthala puranas from here.

3. 3
   Brahma Khanda ब्रह्मखण्डः

   Three parts: the Setu Khanda of Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi, the Dharmaranya Khanda, and the Brahmottara Khanda. The Brahmottara gives the vratas and practices of Shiva worship, Pradosha and the Panchakshara among them. Rameswaram's priests still cite the Setu Khanda for the order of bathing in the tirthas.

4. 4
   Kashi Khanda काशीखण्डः

   A hundred adhyayas in Purvardha and Uttarardha. Agastya leaves Kashi and humbles the Vindhya; Skanda then tells him of Varanasi, its lingas, its Ganesha shrines, its ghats and the Panchakroshi round. It is the guidebook of Kashi pilgrims and the source of most Kashi temple traditions.

5. 5
   Avanti Khanda आवन्त्यखण्डः

   Three parts: the Avantikshetra Mahatmya of Ujjain and Mahakal-vana, the Mahatmya of the eighty-four lingas of Avanti, and the Reva Khanda of the Narmada. The Reva Khanda praises the tirthas along the river from source to sea. Printed Satyanarayana kathas name it as their source.

6. 6
   Nagara Khanda नागरखण्डः

   The Hatakeshvara kshetra in Gujarat, its tirthas, and the traditions of the Nagara brahmins. Its kathas tie the shrines of that land to Shiva as Hatakeshvara. Nagar families of Gujarat know this khanda as their own.

7. 7
   Prabhasa Khanda प्रभासखण्डः

   Four parts: Prabhasa Kshetra Mahatmya of Somnath, Vastrapatha Kshetra Mahatmya of Girnar, the Arbuda Khanda of Mount Abu, and the Dvaraka Mahatmya. Somnath's sthala purana comes from here. It closes the Purana on the western shore of Bharat.

Famous verses

काशी काशीति काशीति जपतो यस्य संस्थितिः। अन्यत्रापि सतस्तस्य पुरो मुक्तिः प्रकाशते॥

One who stays repeating 'Kashi, Kashi, Kashi', even while living elsewhere, sees liberation shining before him.Skanda Purana 4.2.64.38 (Kashi Khanda, Uttarardha; sa.wikisource text)

वेंकटाद्रिसमं स्थानं ब्रह्माण्डे नास्ति किञ्चन। वेंकटेशसमो देवो न भूतो न भविष्यति॥

There is no place in all the cosmos equal to Venkatadri. There has been no god equal to Venkatesha, nor will there ever be.Skanda Purana 2.1.38.71 (Vaishnava Khanda, Venkatachala Mahatmya; sa.wikisource text)

सेतुं दृष्ट्वा नरो विप्राः सर्वयागकरः स्मृतः। स्नातश्च सर्वतीर्थेषु तपोऽतप्यत चाखिलम्॥

O brahmins, one who has seen the Setu is held to have performed every yajna, to have bathed in every tirtha, and to have done all tapas.Skanda Purana 3.1.1.24 (Brahma Khanda, Setu Khanda; sa.wikisource text)

गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः। गुरुरेव परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः॥

The guru is Brahma, the guru is Vishnu, the guru is the deva Maheshvara. The guru alone is the supreme Brahman; to that revered guru, salutation.Guru Gita 1.58 (its colophon: Skanda Purana, Uttara Khanda, Uma-Maheshvara samvada; sa.wikisource text). Commonly recited with 'guruḥ sākṣāt paraṃ brahma'.