Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 9
निवासमकरोत्तस्मिन्क्षेत्रे पुण्यतमे चिरम् । शीर्णपर्णफलाहारो भूमौ शेते सदा निशि । अन्य स्याऽन्यस्य वृक्षस्य मदाहंकारवर्जितः
nivāsamakarottasminkṣetre puṇyatame ciram | śīrṇaparṇaphalāhāro bhūmau śete sadā niśi | anya syā'nyasya vṛkṣasya madāhaṃkāravarjitaḥ
Longtemps il établit sa demeure en ce lieu très saint et plein de mérite. Se nourrissant de feuilles et de fruits tombés, il dormait chaque nuit à même le sol, allant d’un arbre à l’autre, dépouillé d’orgueil et d’ego.
Sūta
Tirtha: Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra (Śaṅkhatīrtha cycle)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Purāṇic audience (not explicit)
Scene: The king lives like an ascetic in a sacred grove: eating fallen leaves and fruits, sleeping on bare earth, shifting from tree to tree, his royal identity subdued by humility.
FAQs
The fruit of a kṣetra is approached through humility and austerity; egolessness is portrayed as a key qualification for receiving tīrtha-prabhāva.
The verse praises a “most holy kṣetra” within the Hāṭakeśvara sacred geography; the specific focal tīrtha of the chapter is Śaṅkhatīrtha.
A lifestyle-vrata is implied: simple fallen-fruit diet, sleeping on the earth, and renunciation of pride during residence in a sacred place.