Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 84
पार्ष्णिग्राह्यभवद्रुद्रो देवाचार्यस्य वै तदा । यदा तारामधार्षीत्स द्विजराजोऽतिसुंदरीम्
pārṣṇigrāhyabhavadrudro devācāryasya vai tadā | yadā tārāmadhārṣītsa dvijarājo'tisuṃdarīm
في ذلك الحين صار رُدرا كأنه القابض على المذنب من عَقِبه نصرةً لمعلّم الآلهة؛ إذ في ذلك الوقت نفسه اعتدى القمر—ملكُ ذوي الميلادين—على «تارا» فائقةِ الجمال.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa context, typically Skanda to Agastya)
Tirtha: Viśveśvara (Kāśī) (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and the Naimiṣāraṇya ṛṣis (typical frame; not explicit here)
Scene: A celestial court scene: radiant Soma (Moon) drawn toward the dazzling Tārā; Bṛhaspati’s anguish; Rudra appearing as the stern enforcer who ‘seizes by the heel,’ arresting the offender and restoring cosmic order.
FAQs
Even celestial beings are accountable to dharma; Śiva restrains transgression and restores moral order.
The broader frame is Kāśī, where Viśveśvara (Śiva) is upheld as supreme; the verse itself is narrative background rather than a direct tīrtha description.
No direct rite is prescribed here; it sets up Śiva’s authority over ritual and dharma, developed in subsequent verses.