Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 11
मन्दाकिनी सरिच्छ्रेष्ठा लक्ष्मीर्वा किमथो उमा । कालरात्रिर्भवेत्साक्षात्प्रकृतिर्वा सुखोचिता
mandākinī saricchreṣṭhā lakṣmīrvā kimatho umā | kālarātrirbhavetsākṣātprakṛtirvā sukhocitā
Is she Mandākinī, the foremost of rivers? Or Lakṣmī—or else Umā? Could she be Kālārātrī herself, or Prakṛti, the very Source fit to bring forth well-being?
Yudhiṣṭhira (continuing the inquiry)
Tirtha: Revā (Narmadā)
Type: river
Listener: Manu (as the one later replying)
Scene: A speaker beholds a radiant feminine presence associated with a sacred river, questioning whether she is Mandākinī, Lakṣmī, Umā, Kālārātrī, or Prakṛti—multiple halos and iconographic overlays suggested.
FAQs
The divine feminine is celebrated as multi-aspected—nourishing like a river, auspicious like Lakṣmī, and cosmic like Prakṛti.
Indirectly the river-sacredness theme that culminates in the Revā/Narmadā māhātmya; no single named tīrtha appears in this verse.
None in this verse.
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