Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 1
गालव उवाच । प्रवृत्तायां शैलपुत्र्यां महत्तपसि दारुणे । कन्दर्पेण पराभूतो विचचार महीं हरः
gālava uvāca | pravṛttāyāṃ śailaputryāṃ mahattapasi dāruṇe | kandarpeṇa parābhūto vicacāra mahīṃ haraḥ
Gālava sprach: Als Śailaputrī (Pārvatī, die Tochter des Berges) eine große und strenge Askese begann, wanderte Hara (Śiva), von Kāma (Begierde) überwältigt, über die Erde umher.
Gālava
Scene: Pārvatī in fierce penance (matted hair, austere posture) while Śiva, inwardly unsettled by Kāma, roams across varied terrains—forest paths, riverbanks, and distant shrines—suggesting a restless pilgrimage.
FAQs
Even great beings enact līlā around desire and austerity, setting the stage for the revelation of a sacred tīrtha and its purifying power.
This chapter’s narrative leads to the glorification of Hara-tīrtha (Haratīrtha), introduced later in the adhyāya.
No explicit rite is stated here; it provides the narrative background for later instructions about tīrtha-snān (holy bathing).