Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 28
एष कूर्मो मयाख्यातो भारते भगवानिह । नारायणो ह्यचिंत्यात्मा यत्र सर्वं प्रतिष्ठितम्
eṣa kūrmo mayākhyāto bhārate bhagavāniha | nārāyaṇo hyaciṃtyātmā yatra sarvaṃ pratiṣṭhitam
Ainsi ai-je décrit ici, en Bhārata, cette Tortue divine. Il est Nārāyaṇa, d’essence inconcevable, sur qui tout cela est établi.
Deductive (Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya context): likely Skanda to Devī/Pārvatī.
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (within Bhārata supported by Nārāyaṇa)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devī (addressed implicitly through prior verses)
Scene: Nārāyaṇa as the cosmic tortoise (Kūrma-avatāra), bearing the worlds; Bhārata depicted on his back as a luminous map with Prabhāsa shining on the western coast; the narrator completes the description with a gesture of conclusion.
FAQs
Behind sacred geography and cosmic mapping stands the supreme support—Nārāyaṇa—whose nature transcends ordinary thought.
Prabhāsa-kṣetra is the narrative setting; the verse grounds its sacred cosmography in Nārāyaṇa’s universal support.
None; it is a doctrinal statement identifying the cosmic Kūrma with Nārāyaṇa.