Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 85
य एष श्रूयते रावो विभ्रमं जनयन्मम । किंवा पिकसमुत्थो ऽयं किं वा मे दयितोद्भवः
ya eṣa śrūyate rāvo vibhramaṃ janayanmama | kiṃvā pikasamuttho 'yaṃ kiṃ vā me dayitodbhavaḥ
This cry now heard, stirring bewilderment within me—has it arisen from the pīka cuckoo, or is it somehow born of my beloved herself?
Narrated in Sūta’s discourse (a lamenting man within the story-episode)
Scene: A traveler in a forest pauses, head tilted, listening to an unseen call; branches frame the sky, and a distant cuckoo silhouette suggests ambiguity—sound as a phantom of the beloved.
FAQs
In separation, the mind projects the beloved everywhere; the verse highlights how attachment creates भ्रम (bewilderment), urging inner steadiness amid emotional turbulence.
The verse occurs within the Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya framework (Chapter 29), where the larger narrative supports tīrtha-glorification, though this single verse itself focuses on the emotional episode rather than naming a site.
None in this verse; it is a narrative lament (pralāpa) rather than an instruction on snāna, dāna, or japa.