Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 23
एषैव मम मर्यादा नियता लोकभाविनी । जीर्णोद्धारे कृते वापि फलं तद्द्विगुणं मतम्
eṣaiva mama maryādā niyatā lokabhāvinī | jīrṇoddhāre kṛte vāpi phalaṃ taddviguṇaṃ matam
“This indeed is my established ordinance, fixed for the welfare of the world. And if one restores what has grown old and fallen into ruin, the fruit of that deed is held to be double.”
Devī (Umā/Pārvatī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Sages/disciples in the frame narrative
Scene: A patron and artisans restore a weathered shrine: replacing broken stones, repainting, re-gilding, cleaning the sanctum; a deity’s presence is felt as a luminous aura, signifying ‘double fruit’.
FAQs
Maintaining and restoring beneficial or sacred structures is especially meritorious—preservation is dharma, not merely new construction.
No single site is named; the verse supports restoration of dharmic works everywhere, including tīrthas and temples.
Jīrṇoddhāra—repairing/renovating decayed works (such as wells, tanks, or sacred buildings)—is prescribed as giving double fruit.