Skandapurana 3.1.53.22

3.1.53.22

19 atha lakṣmaṇatīrthamāhātmyavarṇanam, tatprasaṃgena balabhadra brahmahatyā vimuktivṛttāntavarṇanam, tatra kauravapāṃḍavavadhaṃ draṣṭumanicchato balabhadrasya tīrthayātrāprasaṃgena naimiṣā-raṇye maharṣisamāje gamanam, tatra balabhadreṇa purāṇakathanāyoccabrahmāsane sthitasya sūtasyāvicārya nijahastotsṛṣṭakuśāgreṇa hananādbrahmahatyāprāptiḥ, atha munīnāṃ vaca-nena lokasaṃgrahāya prāyaścittacikīrṣayā munīnprati prārthanam, munibhirbalabhadrāya balvalākhyarākṣasavadhaṃ kṛtvā varṣaparyantaṃ tīrthayātrākaraṇarūpaprāyaścittakathanam, atha balabhadreṇa balvalanāmakarākṣasahananam, tato varṣaparyantaṃ bhūtalasya sarvatīrtheṣu snāna-pūrvakaṃ yātrākaraṇama, kṛtāyāmapi tīrthayātrāyāṃ brahmahatyāyā nivṛttimadṛṣṭvā muni-vākyena dakṣiṇodadhistha gandhamādanavarti lakṣmaṇatīrthe gatvā snānamātreṇa lakṣmaṇe-śvaraliṃgadarśanena ca brahmahatyāto vimuktivarṇanam , lakṣmaṇatīrthamāhātmyama.... 35 2

19. Now follows the description of the māhātmya of Lakṣmaṇatīrtha. In connection with that, the description of the account of Balabhadra's release from the sin of killing a brahmin: there Balabhadra, not wishing to see the slaughter of the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas, went on a pilgrimage to sacred fords and came to the assembly of great seers in Naimiṣāraṇya; there, through the killing of Sūta, who was seated on the high seat of Brahmā to narrate the Purāṇas, by the tip of a kuśa grass blade hurled from his hand without reflection, Balabhadra incurred the sin of killing a brahmin; then, according to the word of the sages and desiring to perform an expiation for the welfare of the world, he entreated the sages; the sages prescribed for Balabhadra an expiation consisting of slaying the rākṣasa named Balvala and undertaking a pilgrimage to sacred fords for a whole year; then Balabhadra slew the rākṣasa named Balvala; thereafter, for a whole year, he went on a pilgrimage, taking ritual ablutions in all sacred fords throughout the earth; even though the pilgrimage to sacred fords was completed, not seeing the cessation of the sin of killing a brahmin, he went by the sages' instruction to Lakṣmaṇatīrtha situated on Mount Gandhamādana in the southern ocean; through mere ritual ablution and the darśana of the Lakṣmaṇeśvaraliṅga, his deliverance from the sin of killing a brahmin is described. The māhātmya of Lakṣmaṇatīrtha. ... [Chapters] 35–36.