Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 17
स्वयं दृष्टः श्रुतो वापि संजातोऽत्र धरातले । स्वर्गं गतः शरीरेण सहितस्तत्प्रकीर्तय
svayaṃ dṛṣṭaḥ śruto vāpi saṃjāto'tra dharātale | svargaṃ gataḥ śarīreṇa sahitastatprakīrtaya
If you have yourself seen it, or even heard of it—someone born here upon this earth who went to heaven together with his very body—then declare that example plainly.
Triśaṅku (implied: he challenges Vasiṣṭha for a bodily ascent to heaven)
Listener: Triśaṅku
Scene: Vasiṣṭha, firm yet composed, challenges Triśaṅku to name any person who ascended to heaven with the same body; Triśaṅku appears unsettled, searching for an answer.
FAQs
The verse foregrounds the exceptional claim of attaining heaven with the physical body, challenging ordinary karmic expectations and setting up a test of spiritual authority.
No specific tīrtha is named in the verse; the tīrtha-setting is implicit in the surrounding Māhātmya narrative.
No direct prescription is given here; it requests a precedent/example for bodily ascent to heaven.