Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 1
उत्तानपाद उवाच । आश्रमे वसतस्तस्य स दीर्घतपसो मुनेः । कनीयांस्तनयो देव कथं मृत्युमुपागतः
uttānapāda uvāca | āśrame vasatastasya sa dīrghatapaso muneḥ | kanīyāṃstanayo deva kathaṃ mṛtyumupāgataḥ
উত্তানপাদে ক’লে: হে প্ৰভু, দীৰ্ঘতপস মুনিৰ আশ্ৰমত বাস কৰোঁতে, তেওঁৰ কনিষ্ঠ পুত্ৰ কেনেকৈ মৃত্যুক প্ৰাপ্ত হ’ল?
Uttānapāda
Tirtha: Revā (Narmadā) tīra (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Īśvara
Scene: A king (Uttānapāda) respectfully questions the Lord about a sage Dīrghatapas and the mysterious death of the sage’s youngest son, set in a quiet hermitage near a sacred riverbank.
FAQs
Dharma inquiry—asking how and why events occur—opens the way for purāṇic instruction on fate, conduct, and sacred merit.
Indirectly the Mandāraka/Revā Khaṇḍa hermitage setting; the verse itself frames the question.
None; it is a narrative question initiating the teaching.