Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 83
भीष्म उवाच । एतत्ते सर्वमाख्यातं यत्पृष्टोस्मि नराधिप । एकविंशत्प्रमाणं च नरकाणां यथा स्थितम्
bhīṣma uvāca | etatte sarvamākhyātaṃ yatpṛṣṭosmi narādhipa | ekaviṃśatpramāṇaṃ ca narakāṇāṃ yathā sthitam
Bhīṣma dit : Ô souverain des hommes, je t’ai exposé tout ce que tu m’as demandé — la mesure et l’ordonnance des vingt et un enfers, tels qu’ils se tiennent.
Bhīṣma
Tirtha: Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra (chapter frame)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Yudhiṣṭhira
Scene: A calm didactic court-scene: Bhīṣma, venerable and composed, addresses Yudhiṣṭhira, while a symbolic backdrop hints at twenty-one narakas as distant, shadowy compartments—more diagrammatic than horrific.
FAQs
Scriptural teaching organizes moral reality: understanding naraka classifications helps one discern the consequences of actions and choose remedial dharma.
The surrounding discourse belongs to Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya, though this verse functions as a narrative transition.
No new rite is prescribed; it summarizes the completed explanation that supports later prescriptions like dāna, śrāddha, and tīrtha-yātrā.
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