Skandapurana 3.1.52.1.8

3.1.52.1.8

ardhodayasamaḥ kālo na bhūto na bhavi ṣyati ..
kumbhakoṇaṃ setumūlaṃ gokarṇaṃ naimiṣe tathā .. 1 ..
ayodhyā daṃḍakāraṇyaṃ virūpākṣaṃ ca veṃkaṭam ..
śāligrāmaṃ prayāgaṃ ca kāṃcī dvārāvatī tathā .. 2 ..
madhurā padmanābhaṃ ca kāśī viśveśvarālayā ..
nadyaḥ sarvāḥ samudrāśca parvataṃ bhāskaraṃ smṛtam .. 3 ..
muṃḍanaṃ copavāsaśca kṣetreṣveṣu prakīrtitam ..
lobhānmohādakṛtvā yaḥ svagṛhaṃ yāti mānavaḥ .. 4 ..
sahaiva yāṃti tadgehe pātakāni ca tena vai ..
caturviṃśatitīrthāni parvate gandha mādane .. 5 ..
tatra lakṣmaṇatīrthe tu vapanaṃ munibhiḥ smṛtam ..
tīre lakṣmaṇatīrthasya lomavarjyaṃ śivājñayā .. 6 ..
śiromātrasya vapanaṃ kṛtvā dattvā ca dakṣiṇām ..
snātvā lakṣmaṇatīrthe ca dṛṣṭvā lakṣmaṇaśaṃkaram .. 7 ..
sarvapāpavinirmuktaḥ śaṃkaraṃ yāti mānavaḥ ..
ardhodaye sadā snānaṃ setāvevaṃ samācaret .. 8 ..
nāsti setusamaṃ tīrthaṃ nāsti setusamaṃ tapaḥ ..
nāsti setusamaṃ puṇyaṃ nāsti setusamā gatiḥ .. 9 ..
uparāgasahasreṇa samamardhodadayaṃ smṛtam ..
ardhodayasamaḥ kālo nāsti saṃsāramocakaḥ .. 3.1.52.110 ..
tasminnardhodaye rāmasetau snānaṃ tu yadbhavet ..
na tattulyaṃ bhavetpuṇyaṃ sarvaśāstreṣu sarvadā .. 11 ..
ṣaṣṭivarṣasahasrāṇi bhāgīrathyavagāhanāt ..
yatpuṇyamṛṣinirdiṣṭaṃ tatpuṇyaṃ munipuṃgavāḥ .. 12 ..
ekavāraṃ rāmasetau snānātsidhyati niścitam ..
arddhodaye viśeṣeṇa tathaiva ca mahodaye .. 13 ..
makarasthe ravau māghe prayāge pāpamocane ..
māghasnānasahasreṇa yatpuṇyaṃ labhate naraḥ .. 14 ..
tasminnardhodaye viprā rāmasetau nimajjanāt ..

No time equal to the Ardhodaya has existed, nor will there be. / Kumbhakoṇa, the base of the Setu, Gokarṇa, and likewise Naimiṣa, / Ayodhyā, the Daṇḍaka forest, Virūpākṣa, and Veṅkaṭa, / Śāligrāma, Prayāga, Kāñcī, Dvārāvatī likewise, / Madhurā, Padmanābha, and Kāśī, the dwelling of the Lord of the Universe, / all rivers and oceans, and the mountain [called] Bhāskara are commemorated [as such]. / Tonsure and fasting are proclaimed in these sacred fields; / the person who, out of greed or delusion, goes to his own home without performing [them], / sins go with him indeed right into his house. / There are twenty-four sacred fords on Mount Gandhamādana; / there, at the Lakṣmaṇatīrtha, shaving of the head is taught by the sages. / On the shore of Lakṣmaṇatīrtha, avoiding [cutting the other] hair by the command of Śiva, / having shaved only the head and having given a priestly fee, / having bathed at Lakṣmaṇatīrtha and having beheld Lakṣmaṇaśaṅkara, / a man, freed from all sins, goes to Śaṃkara. / At the Ardhodaya one should always perform the ritual ablution at the Setu in this manner. / There is no sacred ford equal to the Setu, there is no austerity equal to the Setu, / there is no merit equal to the Setu, there is no state equal to the Setu. / The Ardhodaya is regarded as equal to a thousand eclipses; / there is no time equal to the Ardhodaya that releases from the cycle of rebirth. / The ritual ablution that takes place at Rāmasetu during that Ardhodaya— / throughout all the scriptures, no merit can ever equal that. / The merit that is pointed out by seers from immersing oneself in the Bhāgīrathī for sixty thousand years— / that merit, O bulls among sages, / is certainly accomplished from a single ritual ablution at Rāmasetu, / especially during the Ardhodaya, and likewise during the Mahodaya. / The merit that a man gains by a thousand ritual ablutions in the month of Māgha at Prayāga that frees from sin, / when the sun is in Capricorn in Māgha, / from plunging into the Rāmasetu during that Ardhodaya, O brahmins,