Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 13
तेषु वै तप्यमानेषु कोटिसंख्येषु पार्वति । ऋषितोयातटे रम्ये पवित्रे पापनाशने । भिक्षुर्भूत्वा गतश्चाहं पुनस्तत्रैव भामिनि
teṣu vai tapyamāneṣu koṭisaṃkhyeṣu pārvati | ṛṣitoyātaṭe ramye pavitre pāpanāśane | bhikṣurbhūtvā gataścāhaṃ punastatraiva bhāmini
Tandis que ces sages—au nombre de koṭi—pratiquaient l’austérité, ô Pārvatī, sur la belle rive de la Ṛṣi-toyā, pure et destructrice des péchés, j’y retournai moi aussi, ô belle, en prenant la forme d’un mendiant (bhikṣu).
Śiva (Īśvara)
Tirtha: Ṛṣi-toyā-taṭa (within Prabhāsa-kṣetra)
Type: ghat
Listener: Pārvatī
Scene: On a luminous, sandy riverbank lined with kuśa grass and ascetic huts, crores of sages sit in tapas; Śiva arrives as a wandering bhikṣu—matted hair, ash-smeared, carrying a begging bowl—his aura subtly betraying divinity amid the serene tirtha landscape.
FAQs
A tīrtha’s purity is intensified by sages’ tapas, and the Lord may personally enter that space—sometimes in humble guise—to bless and test devotees.
Ṛṣi-toyā-taṭa (the bank of Ṛṣi-toyā) within Prabhāsa-kṣetra, described as pure and sin-destroying.
Tapas is the ongoing practice; the verse also implies the dharmic ideal of bhikṣā/renunciation through Śiva’s mendicant form.