Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 1
श्रीमार्कण्डेय उवाच । ततस्त्वेकार्णवे तस्मिन्मुमूर्षुरहमातुरः । काकूच्छ्वासस्तरंस्तोयं बाहुभ्यां नृपसत्तम
śrīmārkaṇḍeya uvāca | tatastvekārṇave tasminmumūrṣurahamāturaḥ | kākūcchvāsastaraṃstoyaṃ bāhubhyāṃ nṛpasattama
قال سري ماركانديا: ثم، في ذلك المحيط الواحد، وأنا في كرب وقريب من الموت، طفوت فوق المياه، ألهث وأتوسل، سابحاً بذراعي، يا خير الملوك.
Mārkaṇḍeya
Tirtha: Eka-arṇava (symbolic) / Revā narrative contrast
Type: kshetra
Listener: A king (nṛpasattama)
Scene: Mārkaṇḍeya, exhausted, half-submerged, paddling with both arms in a vast dark ocean; his face shows pleading breath and near-collapse; the horizon is empty, emphasizing isolation.
FAQs
Human strength reaches its limit in calamity, preparing the seeker for divine dependence and the unfolding of grace.
This verse is a cosmic-ocean narrative scene; it does not praise a particular tīrtha in its wording.
None explicitly; it narrates the condition of the speaker before the ensuing vision.