Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 44
सूर्याद्वै धर्मराड् जज्ञे ते नेदं निर्मितं पुरा । धर्मेण निर्मितं दृष्ट्वा धर्मारण्यमनुत्तमम् । धर्मारण्यमिति प्रोक्तं यन्मया स्कन्द पुण्यदम्
sūryādvai dharmarāḍ jajñe te nedaṃ nirmitaṃ purā | dharmeṇa nirmitaṃ dṛṣṭvā dharmāraṇyamanuttamam | dharmāraṇyamiti proktaṃ yanmayā skanda puṇyadam
De Sūrya nació en verdad Dharmarāṭ; por él fue formado este (lugar sagrado) en tiempos antiguos. Al ver este bosque sin par, creado por el Dharma, fue llamado ‘Dharmāraṇya’, como yo te lo declaro, oh Skanda, otorgador de mérito (puṇya).
Īśvara (Śiva)
Tirtha: Dharmāraṇya
Type: kshetra
Listener: Skanda
Scene: Dharmarāṭ, radiant with solar aura, consecrates or ‘creates’ a vast sacred forest: trees arranged like a mandala, a central shrine/altar implied; the very air glows with dharma.
FAQs
A holy site is holy because it is grounded in Dharma: the very landscape is portrayed as shaped by righteousness, making pilgrimage a direct encounter with dharma-made space.
Dharmāraṇya—the ‘Forest of Dharma’—is explicitly glorified as an unsurpassed puṇya-kṣetra.
No specific ritual is detailed here; the verse establishes the sacred origin and merit-bearing nature of Dharmāraṇya.