Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 9
यस्तस्यां कुरुते श्राद्धं संप्राप्ते दक्षिणायने । सोऽश्वमेधफलं प्राप्य पितृलोके महीयते
yastasyāṃ kurute śrāddhaṃ saṃprāpte dakṣiṇāyane | so'śvamedhaphalaṃ prāpya pitṛloke mahīyate
Whoever performs śrāddha there when the sun’s southern course (dakṣiṇāyana) has begun attains the fruit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice and is honored in Pitṛloka, the world of the ancestors.
Sūta (deduced from immediate narrative context in this adhyāya)
Tirtha: Ānarttīya-taḍāga tīrtha (śrāddha-sthāna)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis
Scene: At the pond’s bank, a householder performs śrāddha: darbha spread, piṇḍa offerings, water libations; brāhmaṇas seated; the sun’s southern movement symbolized by a descending solar disc.
FAQs
Ancestral rites performed at a praised tīrtha, at the proper seasonal time, yield extraordinary merit and uplift one’s lineage.
The verse refers to “that” sacred place discussed in this chapter—identified in the surrounding verses as the Ānarta Tīrtha / Ānartīya Taḍāga.
Performing śrāddha at the tīrtha specifically when dakṣiṇāyana has commenced.