Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 1
मार्कण्डेय उवाच । नष्टे लोके पुनश्चान्ये सलिलेन समावृते । महार्णवस्य मध्यस्थो बाहुभ्यामतरं जलम्
mārkaṇḍeya uvāca | naṣṭe loke punaścānye salilena samāvṛte | mahārṇavasya madhyastho bāhubhyāmataraṃ jalam
Mārkaṇḍeya dit : Quand le monde eut péri et que, de nouveau, tout fut recouvert par les eaux, je me trouvai au milieu du grand océan, nageant dans le déluge à la force de mes bras.
Mārkaṇḍeya
Tirtha: Mahārṇava (cosmic ocean) as saṃsāra-metaphor
Type: kshetra
Listener: Nṛpottama (best of kings)
Scene: Mārkaṇḍeya alone in the middle of the boundless cosmic ocean after the world’s destruction, swimming with his arms through endless waters under a dim, dissolution sky.
FAQs
The verse sets a Purāṇic frame of pralaya (dissolution), highlighting human frailty and the need for divine refuge amid cosmic upheaval.
No specific tīrtha is named; the scene is cosmic (the great ocean during pralaya), serving as a theological backdrop rather than a geographic praise.
None explicitly; it is narrative description preparing for a revelation.