Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 1
। सूत उवाच । ततः सोऽपि महीपालः क्षुत्पिपामासमाकुलः । पपात धरणीपृष्ठे पद्भ्यां गत्वा वनांतरम्
| sūta uvāca | tataḥ so'pi mahīpālaḥ kṣutpipāmāsamākulaḥ | papāta dharaṇīpṛṣṭhe padbhyāṃ gatvā vanāṃtaram
قال سوتا: عندئذ، ذهب حامي الأرض ذاك، وقد أهلكه الجوع والعطش، سيرًا على الأقدام إلى داخل الغابة وسقط على الأرض.
Sūta
Listener: Śaunaka and the Naimiṣāraṇya sages (implied Sūta-saṃhitā frame)
Scene: Sūta as narrator (optional framing), while the king staggers on foot into dense forest and collapses on the earth, exhausted and parched.
FAQs
Royal power is still subject to bodily limits; acknowledging vulnerability becomes the doorway to dharma, guidance, and sacred refuge.
Not named in this verse; it sets the scene within the Tīrthamāhātmya for a forthcoming sacred-geography disclosure.
None; the verse depicts physical distress and movement into the forest.