Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 86
यात्रायामथवान्यत्र पर्वकाले शशिग्रहे । अत्र स्नास्यति यः सम्यक्सागरे लवणांभसि । अश्वमेधसहस्रस्य फलं प्राप्स्यति मानवः
yātrāyāmathavānyatra parvakāle śaśigrahe | atra snāsyati yaḥ samyaksāgare lavaṇāṃbhasi | aśvamedhasahasrasya phalaṃ prāpsyati mānavaḥ
سواء أكان ذلك في رحلة حجٍّ مقدّس أم في غيرها—في أيام الأعياد أو عند خسوف القمر—فمن اغتسل هنا على الوجه الصحيح في مياه البحر المالحة نال ثواباً يعادل ألف قربانٍ من أشفاميدها.
Īśvara (narrator framing the dialogue; tīrtha-phala proclamation)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-sāgara (Śrī Someśa/Somnātha-samudra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: Pilgrims at Prabhāsa enter the foaming salt sea at dawn; priests mark tilaka; the sky hints at eclipse; Somnātha’s sacred horizon anchors the scene; a subtle aura suggests ‘a thousand Aśvamedhas’ as invisible merit.
FAQs
Right action in a powerful sacred geography, especially at auspicious times, multiplies spiritual merit.
The ocean-tīrtha at Prabhāsa Kṣetra (Somnāth coastline).
Sāgara-snāna (bathing in the sea), particularly during parva-kāla and lunar eclipses.