Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 8
किं व्रतैः किं वृथा दानैः किं जपैर्नियमेन वा । महाकालस्य ते सर्वे कलां नार्हंति षोडशीम्
kiṃ vrataiḥ kiṃ vṛthā dānaiḥ kiṃ japairniyamena vā | mahākālasya te sarve kalāṃ nārhaṃti ṣoḍaśīm
À quoi servent les vœux ? À quoi servent des dons vains ? À quoi servent les répétitions sacrées et les disciplines ? Même réunis, ils n’égalent pas le seizième de la grâce et du mérite de Mahākāla.
Sūta
Tirtha: Mahākāla
Type: kshetra
Listener: General audience; rhetorical questions address practitioners
Scene: Mahākāla’s liṅga radiates overwhelming light; around it lie symbolic items of vows, gifts, rosaries, and ascetic tools shown as small and dim, emphasizing that even all combined are less than a sixteenth of Mahākāla’s glory.
FAQs
The text exalts Mahākāla-bhakti and kṣetra-mahātmya as surpassing routine religiosity when those acts lack true devotion and right purpose.
Mahākāla’s kṣetra at Ujjayinī (Ujjain) is the implied locus of this exaltation.
No new prescription; it is a comparative praise asserting the superior efficacy of Mahākāla’s grace/merit.