Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 18
यथैव वर्षतो धारा यथा वा दिवि तारकाः । गंगायां सिकता यद्वत्संख्यया परिवर्जिताः
yathaiva varṣato dhārā yathā vā divi tārakāḥ | gaṃgāyāṃ sikatā yadvatsaṃkhyayā parivarjitāḥ
Wie die Ströme des fallenden Regens, wie die Sterne am Himmel, wie die Sandkörner in der Gaṅgā jenseits jeder Zählung sind—so sind auch sie unzählbar.
Sūta
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (invoked as exemplar)
Type: river
Scene: A cosmic tableau: rain-streams falling in countless threads, a star-filled sky, and the Gaṅgā’s shore with endless sand—visualizing ‘beyond counting’.
FAQs
Purāṇic māhātmyas use cosmic and sacred-natural imagery to convey immeasurable scale—of merit, beings, or qualities—beyond ordinary counting.
Gaṅgā is invoked as the benchmark of sacred vastness; the chapter’s main tīrtha remains the narrative focus, with Gaṅgā used as a revered comparison.
None explicitly; the verse is a poetic comparison emphasizing innumerability.