Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 35
हिमवान्हेमकूटश्च निषधो गन्धमादनः । माल्यवांश्च गिरिश्रेष्ठो नीलः श्वेतोऽथ शृङ्गवान्
himavānhemakūṭaśca niṣadho gandhamādanaḥ | mālyavāṃśca giriśreṣṭho nīlaḥ śveto'tha śṛṅgavān
Himavān et Hemakūṭa ; Niṣadha et Gandhamādana ; Mālyavān, le plus noble des monts ; et aussi Nīla, Śveta et Śṛṅgavān—
Narrator in the Revā Khaṇḍa (contextual purāṇic voice; likely Sūta/Lomaharṣaṇa relating the māhātmya)
Listener: nṛpasattama (a king addressed in 17.37; likely the ongoing interlocutor)
Scene: A panoramic, map-like vision of the world’s great mountains standing in a ring—each peak personified as a ‘king’—with subtle divine attendants in the sky, foreshadowing cosmic dissolution.
FAQs
By naming the greatest mountains, the text underscores the vastness of creation—setting the stage for the claim that even such grandeur yields before time, while the tīrtha’s glory remains.
The passage supports the Revā/Narmadā māhātmya by contrasting it with the fate of famed mountains.
No ritual instruction appears in this verse.