Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 124
आनर्त उवाच । गयाकूप्याश्च माहात्म्यं भवता मे प्रकीर्तितम् । बालमंडनजं वापि सांप्रतं वक्तुमर्हसि
ānarta uvāca | gayākūpyāśca māhātmyaṃ bhavatā me prakīrtitam | bālamaṃḍanajaṃ vāpi sāṃprataṃ vaktumarhasi
Ānarta dit : «Tu m’as déjà célébré la grandeur de Gayākūpī. À présent, daigne aussi exposer le mérite du tīrtha lié au rasage rituel de l’enfant (bāla-maṇḍana).»
Ānarta (the king/questioner)
Tirtha: Gayākūpī
Type: kund
Listener: Viśvāmitra
Scene: King Ānarta respectfully questions the sage about the merit of a child’s tonsure at the tīrtha; a small child with a topknot is hinted, with ritual items (water pot, kusa grass) nearby.
FAQs
Dharma is lived through saṃskāras; the king seeks to align life-cycle rites with tīrtha merit and sacred tradition.
Gayākūpī remains the immediate sacred focus, now linked to another topic: bāla-maṇḍana-related merit.
The verse references bāla-maṇḍana (child’s shaving/tonsure), implying an associated saṃskāra and its tīrtha-related significance.