Skandapurana 2.5.5: adhyāyaḥ 5

Brahmā said:

Whatever fruit one obtains from the bath of Hari with the five nectars,

and whatever [fruit is obtained] with conch water, tell me that, O unconquered Acyuta!

The Blessed Lord said:

Those men who perform an ablution with milk on my head,

the merit born of a hundred horse sacrifices is declared for each drop.

Ten times greater than milk is with curd; ten times more than that with ghee;

ten times greater than that with honey; and even more than that with sugar.

The mantra in water with fragrant flowers is praised as the highest of all.

On the twelfth or the fifteenth [lunar day], with cow's milk,

a ceremonial bath [given to] me, O tiger among gods, destroys great sins.

Just as the products beginning with curd arise from milk,

so all other desires arise from a ceremonial bath with milk for me.

By a milk ablution, good fortune [is gained]; by curd, food consisting of sweets;

the man who bathes me with ghee will go to my city.

He who has [it] performed with honey and sugar in the month of Mārgaśīrṣa

is born as a king in the world, having come back here from heaven.

He obtains a kingdom on earth filled with elephants, horses, and chariots,

he who indeed causes my ceremonial bath with milk to be performed in Mārgaśīrṣa.

In the heavenly world, he surpasses the Moon, Indra, Rudra, and the Maruts.

A milk ablution in Mārgaśīrṣa is supremely excellent, O son.

The majesty of a milk ceremonial bath brings radiance and increases nourishment;

misfortune dissolves through my milk ablution, O son.

He who bathes me in Mārgaśīrṣa with the five nectars,

that creature will never be grieved by a relative on earth, O giver of honor.

Taking the milk of a brown cow, he who bathes me, O son,

that man attains the fruit of giving a hundred brown cows.

Having placed holy water in a conch, the spiritual preceptor who bathes [me],

even with a drop, during the Sahas month, delivers his own family.

Taking milk from a brown cow and putting it in a conch,

the person who bathes me with devotion obtains the fruit of all sacred fords.

Having placed water in a conch, with unhusked barley and kuśa grass,

he who bathes [me] in the Sahas month obtains the fruit of all sacred fords.

He who causes an ablution to be performed with eight conches in Mārgaśīrṣa,

as an excellent devotee of the Lord, is honored in my world.

Then, he who bathes me with sixteen conches, O son,

freed from sin, is glorified for a very long time in the heavenly world.

And he who bathes me with conches numbering twenty-four,

dwelling for a long time in Indra's world, is born as a king on earth.

One should bathe [me] in Mārgaśīrṣa with one hundred and eight conches;

the man obtains the fruit of [a weight of] gold for every single conch.

A devoted man who, having sounded the conch in Mārgaśīrṣa,

bathes me, his ancestors remain established in heaven for that long.

He who performs a conch ablution of one thousand and eight [conches],

he, as an attendant, attains liberation until the dissolution of all beings.

He who constantly bathes me with a conch, O best among gods,

obtaining the fruit of an ablution in the Gaṅgā, rejoices constantly like a god.

Taking water in a conch, he who bathes me, O son,

saying 'Obeisance to Nārāyaṇa', is freed from all sins.

Having placed foot-washing water in a conch for great-souled Vaiṣṇavas,

he who gives it mixed with sesame seeds obtains the fruit of a Cāndrāyaṇa fast.

Whatever water belongs to a river, a pond, or a reservoir, a well, and the like,

all of it, when placed in a conch, becomes water of the Gaṅgā.

Taking water from my feet and putting it into a conch, the Vaiṣṇava

who bears it constantly on his head is a sage, best of those who perform austerities.

Whatever sacred fords exist in the three worlds, by my command, O son,

they reside in the conch here; therefore the conch is declared superior.

Holding a water-filled conch in his hand, with these mantras, the Vaiṣṇava

who bathes [me] in Mārgaśīrṣa—I am pleased with him.

The Moon has his deity at the base of the conch, Varuṇa is the deity in its belly,

Prajāpati is on its back, and at its tip are the Gaṅgā and the Sarasvatī.

Unwearied, one should bathe me preceded by the recitation of these;

even the gods are not capable of calculating the number of his merits.

In front of me, O lord of gods, accompanied by flowers, water, and unbroken rice,

the conch should remain duly worshipped; his prosperity will be all-pervading. / 31

Having filled the conch with fragrant ointment, one who worships me

brings about my supreme delight for a hundred years. / 32

Having poured water into the conch, with flowers, water, and unbroken rice,

he who offers an arghya offering to me obtains endless merit. / 33

Having personally prepared an arghya offering in the conch, he who circumambulates [me],

by him the earth with its seven continents has been circumambulated. / 34

Having circled [it] over my head, and with the conch-water

sprinkling the temple, that Vaiṣṇava will have no misfortune in that house. / 35

He suffers no mental afflictions, no fatigue, no hell, and no fear anywhere,

upon whose head touches the water from [my] feet placed in the conch. / 36

Seizing planets, rākṣasas, kūṣmāṇḍas, piśācas, serpents, and dānavas,

seeing the conch-water on the head, flee into the ten directions. / 37

With loud sounds of musical instruments, and auspicious songs and sounds,

he who bathes me with devotion becomes liberated while alive. / 38

Thus ends the fifth chapter, titled "Declaration of the Fruits of Worshipping the Conch," in the Mārgaśīrṣa-māhātmya of the dialogue between Brahmā and Viṣṇu, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa containing eighty-one thousand verses. // 5