Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 114
तामानय महाभाग भार्यां कुरु महाबल । अतीव रूपसंपन्ना या आनीतास्त्वयानघ । तासां मध्ये रूपवती रतिः सा मदनप्रिया
tāmānaya mahābhāga bhāryāṃ kuru mahābala | atīva rūpasaṃpannā yā ānītāstvayānagha | tāsāṃ madhye rūpavatī ratiḥ sā madanapriyā
«أحضِرْها إلى هنا، أيها السعيد الحظّ؛ واتّخذْها زوجةً لك، أيها الجبّار. ومن بين النساء ذوات الجمال الفائق اللواتي جئتَ بهنّ، فإنّ الأجمل هي رَتي—وهي حبيبةُ مَدَنا (إله الحبّ كاما).»
Narrator (Sūta/Lomaharṣaṇa, per Māheśvarakhaṇḍa convention)
Scene: Śambara (or his adviser) commands that Rati be brought and made wife; Rati stands apart, luminous and resistant, amid a procession of captured/assembled beauties, emphasizing her singular radiance and Madana-connection.
FAQs
Worldly power tries to claim what is sacred to another; dharma is tested when desire and possession arise.
Kedāra-kṣetra is the textual setting (Kedārakhaṇḍa), though the verse focuses on narrative action.
None; it describes counsel regarding Rati, not a rite.