Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 155
धेनुके रुद्ररूपासि रुद्रेण परिनिर्मिता । अस्मिन्नगाधे संसारे पतन्तं मां समुद्धर
dhenuke rudrarūpāsi rudreṇa parinirmitā | asminnagādhe saṃsāre patantaṃ māṃ samuddhara
Ô vache sacrée, tu es la forme même de Rudra, façonnée par Rudra. Dans cet océan insondable de l’existence mondaine, tandis que je tombe, retire-moi et sauve-moi.
King (as donor, praying during go-dāna)
Tirtha: Revā (Narmadā) tīrtha milieu (implicit)
Type: kshetra
Listener: nareśvara (king) addressed in narration (as per translation vocative)
Scene: A supplicant addresses an adorned cow as Rudra’s embodiment, hands folded, with the riverine sacred landscape implied; the saṃsāra-ocean metaphor can be visualized as waves behind, with Śiva’s grace symbolically present.
FAQs
Charity offered with sacred vision—seeing the cow as Rudra’s form—becomes a prayer for liberation from saṃsāra.
The Revā Khaṇḍa setting frames the act of go-dāna as especially meritorious within the Narmadā sacred landscape.
Reciting a dedicatory prayer to the cow during go-dāna, invoking Rudra and seeking deliverance.