Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 26
स्कंद उवाच । पाद्मेकल्पे पुरावृत्ते मनोः स्वायंभुवेंतरे । अनावृष्टिरभूद्विप्र सर्वभूतप्रकंपिनी
skaṃda uvāca | pādmekalpe purāvṛtte manoḥ svāyaṃbhuveṃtare | anāvṛṣṭirabhūdvipra sarvabhūtaprakaṃpinī
स्कन्द बोले—हे विप्र, प्राचीन काल में पद्मकल्प के स्वायम्भुव मन्वन्तर में ऐसी अनावृष्टि हुई, जो समस्त प्राणियों को कंपा देने वाली थी।
Skanda
Listener: Agastya (addressed as vipra)
Scene: Skanda narrates with didactic calm; behind him, a symbolic tableau of parched earth and distressed beings, with celestial time-wheels (kalpa/manvantara) hinted as mandala motifs.
FAQs
Cosmic cycles include crises like drought; such upheavals become occasions for dharma to be sought and sacred refuges to be revealed.
The chapter’s arc culminates in Avimukta/Kāśī as a spiritual refuge, though this verse establishes the time-setting.
No specific rite is prescribed here; it introduces the historical-cosmic setting.