Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 13
दन्तोलूखलिनः केचिदश्मकुट्टास्तथा परे । पञ्चाग्निसाधकाश्चान्ये सद्यः प्रक्षालकास्तथा
dantolūkhalinaḥ kecidaśmakuṭṭāstathā pare | pañcāgnisādhakāścānye sadyaḥ prakṣālakāstathā
Some practiced austerities such as grinding with their teeth like a mortar; others were pounding stone. Some performed the pañcāgni, the five-fire penance, and others undertook immediate purificatory washings—thus they were engaged in severe tapas.
Narrator (contextual; likely Sūta continuing the account)
Tirtha: Arbuda (tapas-sthāna)
Type: kshetra
Scene: Multiple ascetics in distinct penances: one clenches and grinds as if using teeth as a mortar (dantolūkhalin), another pounds stone (aśma-kuṭṭa), another sits amid four fires with the sun overhead (pañcāgni), while others repeatedly wash at a nearby water source, all on a rugged mountain setting.
FAQs
Steadfast tapas and self-purification, when done with devotion, draws divine grace and protection.
The passage is within Arbuda Khaṇḍa and leads toward the Nāgahrada-tīrtha glorification later in the chapter.
Pañcāgni-sādhana (five-fire austerity) and acts of immediate purification/cleansing are referenced.