Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 8
स देवानामहोरात्रं पुराणज्ञाः प्रचक्षते । अयनं चोत्तरं शुक्लं यद्देवानां दिनं च तत् । यद्दक्षिणं तु सा रात्रिः शुभकर्मविगर्हिता
sa devānāmahorātraṃ purāṇajñāḥ pracakṣate | ayanaṃ cottaraṃ śuklaṃ yaddevānāṃ dinaṃ ca tat | yaddakṣiṇaṃ tu sā rātriḥ śubhakarmavigarhitā
Ce cycle est nommé par les connaisseurs des Purāṇa le jour et la nuit des dieux. Le lumineux cours du nord, l’Uttarāyaṇa, est le jour des dieux ; le cours du sud, le Dakṣiṇāyaṇa, est leur nuit, tenue pour défavorable aux actes de bon augure.
Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa)
Listener: dvijoत्तमāḥ (addressed audience: best of twice-born)
Scene: A cosmic diagram-like scene: the sun’s northward and southward paths shown as bright and dark halves; devas in a luminous assembly during Uttarāyaṇa and withdrawn/veiled during Dakṣiṇāyaṇa; a sage instructing pilgrims beside a tīrtha.
FAQs
Auspicious action is linked to cosmic order; aligning one’s undertakings with the ‘day of the gods’ is presented as dharmically superior.
No single tirtha is named; the verse provides a pan-Indic calendrical principle often applied to pilgrimage and vrata timing.
Prefer śubha-karmas during Uttarāyaṇa (the gods’ day); Dakṣiṇāyaṇa is characterized as comparatively unsuitable for auspicious rites.