Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 18
यथैव वर्षतो धारा यथा वा दिवि तारकाः । गंगायां सिकता यद्वत्संख्यया परिवर्जिताः
yathaiva varṣato dhārā yathā vā divi tārakāḥ | gaṃgāyāṃ sikatā yadvatsaṃkhyayā parivarjitāḥ
Comme les filets de pluie qui tombent, comme les étoiles du ciel, comme les grains de sable du Gaṅgā, au-delà de tout dénombrement—ainsi sont-ils innombrables.
Sūta
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (invoked as exemplar)
Type: river
Scene: A cosmic tableau: rain-streams falling in countless threads, a star-filled sky, and the Gaṅgā’s shore with endless sand—visualizing ‘beyond counting’.
FAQs
Purāṇic māhātmyas use cosmic and sacred-natural imagery to convey immeasurable scale—of merit, beings, or qualities—beyond ordinary counting.
Gaṅgā is invoked as the benchmark of sacred vastness; the chapter’s main tīrtha remains the narrative focus, with Gaṅgā used as a revered comparison.
None explicitly; the verse is a poetic comparison emphasizing innumerability.