Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 9
सूत उवाच कुरुक्षेत्रमिति ख्यातं प्रथमं क्षेत्रमुत्तमम् । हाटकेश्वरजं क्षेत्रं द्वितीयं परिकीर्तितम्
sūta uvāca kurukṣetramiti khyātaṃ prathamaṃ kṣetramuttamam | hāṭakeśvarajaṃ kṣetraṃ dvitīyaṃ parikīrtitam
সূতে ক’লে: প্ৰথম আৰু সৰ্বোত্তম পবিত্ৰ ক্ষেত্ৰ ‘কুৰুক্ষেত্ৰ’ নামে খ্যাত। দ্বিতীয় ক্ষেত্ৰ ‘হাটকেশ্বৰ’ৰ পৰা উদ্ভূত বুলি প্ৰখ্যাত।
Sūta
Tirtha: Kurukṣetra; Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: dvija-sattamāḥ (assembled brāhmaṇa sages)
Scene: Sūta, seated in a forest-assembly of sages, proclaims the foremost kṣetras—Kurukṣetra first, then the Śaiva Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra—framed as a sacred geography map in speech.
FAQs
Purāṇic dharma ranks and maps sacred regions; knowing the principal kṣetras guides pilgrimage toward high merit and purification.
Kurukṣetra is explicitly praised as the first and best kṣetra; a second kṣetra associated with Hāṭakeśvara is also named.
No explicit rite in this verse; it establishes the authoritative list of kṣetras that later verses connect with darśana and snāna.