Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 142
शुष्काणि चैव पर्णानि नाशितानि तया यदा । अपर्णेति च विख्याता बभुव तनुमध्यमा
śuṣkāṇi caiva parṇāni nāśitāni tayā yadā | aparṇeti ca vikhyātā babhuva tanumadhyamā
When she gave up even the dry leaves, she became renowned as ‘Aparṇā’—“she who has no leaves.” Thus the slender-waisted one became celebrated by that name.
Narrator (within Māheśvarakhaṇḍa context, traditionally Sūta/Lomaharṣaṇa)
Tirtha: Kedāra-tapas-kṣetra (Aparṇā-smṛti)
Type: kshetra
Scene: Girijā relinquishes even dry leaves; the moment of total renunciation crystallizes into her famed name ‘Aparṇā’, the slender-waisted ascetic radiant with tapas.
FAQs
Names in Purāṇic tradition often encode spiritual achievement; ‘Aparṇā’ signifies the pinnacle of renunciation and tapas.
Kedāra is the implied sacred context where this famed austerity—and thus the epithet Aparṇā—takes prominence.
It describes an extreme fasting discipline (renouncing even leaves), a model of tapas rather than a temple-ritual instruction.
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