Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 17
वागुवाच । नो त्वं गौतमि चित्याग्नौ प्रवेशं कर्तुमर्हसि । दोषो नास्ति तवात्रार्थे तीर्थस्यास्य प्रभावतः
vāguvāca | no tvaṃ gautami cityāgnau praveśaṃ kartumarhasi | doṣo nāsti tavātrārthe tīrthasyāsya prabhāvataḥ
Die Stimme sprach: „O Gautamī, du sollst nicht in das Feuer des Scheiterhaufens treten. In dieser Sache trifft dich keine Schuld; es geschah durch die Macht dieses heiligen Tīrtha.“
Aśarīriṇī Vāk (divine/disembodied voice; effectively a deva-vāṇī)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-tīrtha (specific ford unnamed in verse; within Prabhāsa)
Type: ghat
Listener: Gautamī
Scene: A grieving pativratā (Gautamī) stands near a cremation fire, halted by a radiant, unseen celestial voice; the tīrtha waters shimmer nearby, suggesting protective sanctity.
FAQs
A tīrtha’s sacred power can bring about extraordinary outcomes without moral fault, and dharma forbids rash self-destruction when divine purpose is at work.
“This tīrtha” in the Arbuda Khaṇḍa—its prabhāva is explicitly named as the cause behind the event.
A prohibition: she is told not to enter the pyre-fire; the verse implicitly upholds preservation of life under divine instruction.