Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 4
पौंड्रको वासुदेवस्तु वाराणस्यां पुराऽभवत् । तेन श्रुतं पुराणं तु पठ्यमानं द्विजातिभिः
pauṃḍrako vāsudevastu vārāṇasyāṃ purā'bhavat | tena śrutaṃ purāṇaṃ tu paṭhyamānaṃ dvijātibhiḥ
En tiempos antiguos, Pauṇḍraka Vāsudeva vivía en Vārāṇasī. Allí oyó un Purāṇa que era recitado por los dvija, los «nacidos dos veces».
Īśvara (Śiva) (narrating)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) as narrative locus; Prabhāsa as the overarching frame
Type: kshetra
Scene: In ancient Vārāṇasī, brahmins recite a Purāṇa in a sabhā; Pauṇḍraka listens, intrigued, with royal attendants behind him; the city’s ghats and temples form the backdrop.
FAQs
Purāṇic recitation is a public dharma-institution; what one hears can shape belief—rightly through humility or wrongly through delusion.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī) is referenced as a place where Purāṇas are recited by the learned.
The practice implied is Purāṇa-śravaṇa—listening to sacred recitation by dvijātis.