Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 4
यद्दीयते द्वादशिवासरे शुभे विष्णुं समुद्दिश्य तथा पितॄणाम् । पर्य्याप्तमिष्ठैः क्रतुतीर्थदानैर्भक्त्या प्रदत्तं खलु मेरुतुल्यम्
yaddīyate dvādaśivāsare śubhe viṣṇuṃ samuddiśya tathā pitṝṇām | paryyāptamiṣṭhaiḥ kratutīrthadānairbhaktyā pradattaṃ khalu merutulyam
Cualquier don que se entregue en el día auspicioso de Dvādaśī, dedicándolo al Señor Viṣṇu y asimismo a los Pitṛs (antepasados), cuando se ofrece con devoción, se vuelve en mérito igual al monte Meru, y basta—superando—los frutos de sacrificios, grandes ritos, peregrinaciones y dádivas rituales.
Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa) (deduced from Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa narrative style)
Tirtha: Dvārakā-kṣetra (context of Dvādaśī)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A Dvādaśī charity scene in Dvārakā: devotees offering gifts to brāhmaṇas and the needy before a Viṣṇu shrine; Mount Meru symbolized as a golden heap behind, indicating ‘Meru-like’ merit.
FAQs
Devotional charity (dāna) offered on Dvādaśī with dedication to Viṣṇu and the ancestors becomes extraordinarily weighty in merit—comparable to Mount Meru—showing bhakti as the multiplier of dharma.
The verse occurs in the Dvārakā-māhātmya within the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa, situating the teaching within the sacred landscape of Dvārakā and its pilgrimage ethos, even though the shloka itself names no single tīrtha.
It prescribes giving dāna on the auspicious Dvādaśī day, explicitly dedicating the offering to Lord Viṣṇu and also to the Pitṛs (ancestral rite-intention), emphasizing bhakti as essential to the act.