Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 41
अक्षय्यसलिलं देयं षष्ठ्या चैव ततः परम् । पवित्राणि समादाय ऊर्ध्वं स्वधेति कीर्तयेत् । अस्तु स्वधेति तैरुक्ते पिंडोपरि परिक्षिपेत्
akṣayyasalilaṃ deyaṃ ṣaṣṭhyā caiva tataḥ param | pavitrāṇi samādāya ūrdhvaṃ svadheti kīrtayet | astu svadheti tairukte piṃḍopari parikṣipet
One should offer the ‘inexhaustible water’ (akṣayya-salila), and thereafter at the sixth portion/step as well. Taking the pavitras (ritual rings/strands), one should utter aloud ‘svadhā’. When they respond ‘astu svadhā’—‘So be it, svadhā’—one should then sprinkle it over the piṇḍa.
Unknown (contextual narrator within Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya, prescribing śrāddha rites)
Type: ghat
Scene: Close ritual moment: the performer wears a pavitra ring of darbha, holds a water vessel labeled ‘akṣayya-salila’, and sprinkles droplets over a piṇḍa while chanting ‘svadhā’; attendants echo assent.
FAQs
Ancestral rites become spiritually effective through correct mantra, purity, and disciplined sequence—linking devotion with dharmic precision.
The broader passage is a tīrtha-glorification setting, but this verse itself focuses on the rite rather than naming the location.
Offer akṣayya-salila, hold pavitras, recite ‘svadhā’, accept the ritual assent ‘astu svadhā’, and sprinkle the offering over the piṇḍa.
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