Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 3
श्रीमार्कण्डेय उवाच । पुरा कल्पे नृपश्रेष्ठ ऋषिदेवसमागमे । प्रश्नः पृष्टो मया तात यथा त्वमनुपृच्छसि
śrīmārkaṇḍeya uvāca | purā kalpe nṛpaśreṣṭha ṛṣidevasamāgame | praśnaḥ pṛṣṭo mayā tāta yathā tvamanupṛcchasi
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya dit : Dans un kalpa ancien, ô le meilleur des rois, lors d’une assemblée de ṛṣi et de deva, j’ai moi-même posé cette même question, cher enfant—comme tu la poses à présent.
Mārkaṇḍeya
Listener: nṛpaśreṣṭha (a king; likely the immediate interlocutor of the Revā Khaṇḍa narrative)
Scene: Mārkaṇḍeya, serene and aged, speaks in a luminous assembly where sages and devas sit in concentric rows; a king listens with folded hands as the question is recalled from a former kalpa.
FAQs
Sacred teachings are transmitted through venerable lineages of inquiry and revelation; sincere questioning is part of dharma.
The verse introduces the backstory for Asmāhaka’s māhātmya but does not yet describe the site’s features.
None directly; it sets up an authoritative narrative source for the forthcoming tīrtha teaching.