Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 76
रात्रावब्जेषु संकोचो दर्शेष्वब्जः क्वचिद्व्रजेत् । क्षीरोदे मंदरत्रासात्तदत्राध्युषितामिव
rātrāvabjeṣu saṃkoco darśeṣvabjaḥ kvacidvrajet | kṣīrode maṃdaratrāsāttadatrādhyuṣitāmiva
كما تنغلق أزهار اللوتس ليلًا ثم تُرى عند الفجر وقد انفتحت، كذلك بدت هي، كأنها أقامت هنا—مثل لاكشمي في محيط اللبن بعد الفزع الذي أثاره ماندارا.
Skanda (deduced for Kāśīkhaṇḍa context)
Tirtha: Kolāpura (Mahālakṣmī-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and other sages (typical frame; not explicit here)
Scene: A serene dawn scene: lotuses that had closed at night begin to open; the Goddess’s presence is suggested rather than overt—an aura like Lakṣmī after the churning of the Milk-Ocean, with Mandara’s shadow as a remembered tremor.
FAQs
Purāṇic imagery ties cosmic myth to sacred place: the same Lakṣmī of the Milk-Ocean is experienced as present in the tīrtha.
The Kāśīkhaṇḍa setting where Mahālakṣmī is envisioned as residing, linked symbolically to the Milk-Ocean mythos.
No explicit ritual; the verse uses lotus-time imagery and mythic allusion to establish sanctity.