Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 21
तस्य तैरभवयुद्धं शाल्वैरपि बलोद्धतैः । पाताले पन्नगेन्द्रस्य गन्धर्वैरिव दुर्मदैः
tasya tairabhavayuddhaṃ śālvairapi baloddhataiḥ | pātāle pannagendrasya gandharvairiva durmadaiḥ
Alors s’éleva le combat entre lui et ces Śālvas, enflés de puissance, tels les farouches Gandharvas luttant contre le seigneur des serpents dans Pātāla.
Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa) (deduced)
Scene: A dense battlefield: the protagonist facing Śālva warriors ‘swollen with strength’; the poet’s simile overlays a mythic vision of Gandharvas clashing with the serpent-lord in Pātāla—suggesting subterranean gloom, jeweled nāga hoods, and fierce celestial fighters.
FAQs
When pride and aggression rise, conflict becomes intense and destabilizing—echoed through cosmic imagery.
None; Pātāla is a cosmological realm used as a poetic comparison, not a pilgrimage site here.
None; the verse is descriptive and metaphorical.