Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 30
यदा पतिव्रतानां तु कथास्मद्भवने भवेत् । तदा प्राथमिकीं रेखामेषाऽलंकुरुते सती
yadā pativratānāṃ tu kathāsmadbhavane bhavet | tadā prāthamikīṃ rekhāmeṣā'laṃkurute satī
Chaque fois que, dans notre demeure, on récite le récit sacré des pativratās, à l’instant même cette dame vertueuse orne le premier signe de bon augure, comme il sied à une épouse chaste.
Narrator (contextual; within Kāśīkhaṇḍa dialogue, typically Skanda’s narration to Agastya, but this verse itself is in third-person narrative)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: Inside a Kāśī household courtyard, a virtuous woman prepares for a pativratā-kathā: she draws the first auspicious line/mark on the threshold or floor, while elders arrange a seat for recitation and a lamp glows softly.
FAQs
Honoring dharma through reverence for sacred narratives—especially the exemplars of pativratā virtue—purifies domestic life and makes it auspicious.
The larger frame is the Kāśī Khaṇḍa (Vārāṇasī/Kāśī māhātmya), though this particular verse highlights household auspiciousness rather than naming a specific tīrtha.
An auspicious ‘first mark/line’ (prāthamikā rekhā) is made/adorned when the pativratā-kathā is recited—indicating a customary rite of sanctifying the occasion.