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
Uttānapāda sprach: O Herr, als er im Āśrama jenes Weisen Dīrghatapas, des langandauernden Asketen, weilte—wie kam sein jüngster Sohn zum Tod?
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.