Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 5
सूत उवाच । आनर्तः सुहयो नाम पुरासीत्पृथिवीपतिः । सर्वारिभिर्हतो युद्धे पलायनपरायणः । उच्छिष्टो म्लेच्छसंस्पृष्ट एकाकी बहुभिर्वृतः
sūta uvāca | ānartaḥ suhayo nāma purāsītpṛthivīpatiḥ | sarvāribhirhato yuddhe palāyanaparāyaṇaḥ | ucchiṣṭo mlecchasaṃspṛṣṭa ekākī bahubhirvṛtaḥ
Sūta sprach: Einst gab es einen König der Erde namens Ānarta, genannt Suhaya. Von all seinen Feinden im Kampf geschlagen und auf Flucht bedacht, wurde er unrein—befleckt durch den Umgang mit den Mlecchas—allein, und doch wie von vielen Nöten umringt.
Sūta
Tirtha: Ānarteśvara-sānnidhya (Ānarta kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis (Naimiṣāraṇya audience implied)
Scene: A defeated king in travel-worn garments, looking back in fear, stands amid a shadowy forest edge; hostile figures and inner ‘troubles’ encircle him, while in the distance a Śiva-liṅga shrine (Ānarteśvara) glows faintly, promising refuge.
FAQs
Even those fallen into defeat and impurity can be restored through the Purāṇic path—turning toward sacred places and dharmic remedies.
The verse sets up the kathā that culminates at the deva-made taḍāga and the Ānarteśvara liṅga described in Adhyāya 65.
None directly; it introduces the king’s compromised condition that the tīrtha narrative will address through purification and worship.