Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 34
सूर्य आत्मास्य जगतो वेदेषु परिपठ्यते । स एव चेज्वालयिता को नस्त्राता भवेदिह
sūrya ātmāsya jagato vedeṣu paripaṭhyate | sa eva cejvālayitā ko nastrātā bhavediha
In the Vedas the Sun is recited as the very Self of this world. If he himself becomes the one who sets everything ablaze, then who here could be our protector?
Skanda (deduced: Kāśī Khaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra (Viśveśvara-kshetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and other ṛṣis at Naimiṣāraṇya (traditional)
Scene: A darkened, fearful world looks up to a blazing, potentially destructive Sun; sages and citizens in Kāśī gesture in alarm, questioning who can protect if the cosmic eye itself burns.
FAQs
The Sun is upheld as life-sustaining and world-ensouling; if the sustainer turns destructive, refuge must be sought in the supreme governance of Īśvara.
No single tīrtha is named; the verse is a doctrinal statement embedded in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa’s narrative setting.
None; the verse appeals to Vedic testimony and existential dependence on the Sun.