Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 27
अथासौ व्याकुलं दृष्ट्वा तत्सर्वं नृपतेः पुरम् । अपृच्छद्विस्मयाविष्टो दृष्ट्वा कञ्चिन्नरं द्विजाः
athāsau vyākulaṃ dṛṣṭvā tatsarvaṃ nṛpateḥ puram | apṛcchadvismayāviṣṭo dṛṣṭvā kañcinnaraṃ dvijāḥ
Alors, voyant toute la cité du roi en proie au trouble, il demanda, saisi d’émerveillement, après avoir aperçu là un certain homme, ô Brāhmanes.
Narrator (Purāṇic narrator within Nāgarakhaṇḍa context; specific speaker not explicit in this excerpt)
Listener: dvijāḥ (addressed audience)
Scene: The radiant mendicant pauses amid a crowd; the city is agitated—people running, queens weeping, guards confused. He points toward a distressed figure and asks what has happened.
FAQs
Collective sorrow often signals a ruler’s crisis; dharma seeks diagnosis before remedy, through inquiry and counsel.
No tīrtha is named yet; the narrative is moving toward the revelation of a powerful healing tīrtha.
None in this verse; it is a narrative transition into the saint’s speech.