Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 14
नागा दैत्याश्च पाताले त्रिधैतत्परिकल्पितम् । ऐकैकं सप्तधाभूय ततस्तेन प्रकल्पितम्
nāgā daityāśca pātāle tridhaitatparikalpitam | aikaikaṃ saptadhābhūya tatastena prakalpitam
पाताल में नाग और दैत्य रहते हैं; वह लोक तीन प्रकार का कल्पित है। फिर उन तीनों में से प्रत्येक सात-सात भागों में विभक्त होकर उसी प्रकार व्यवस्थित हुआ।
Lomaharṣaṇa (Sūta) (deduced from Māheśvara-khaṇḍa narrative style)
Tirtha: Pātāla-lokas (generic)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Bhārata (addressed)
Scene: A subterranean jeweled realm: Nāgas with hoods and gem-crowns, Daityas in fortified cities, luminous nāga-maṇis lighting cavernous palaces; schematic threefold then sevenfold divisions hinted as layered caverns.
FAQs
The universe is portrayed as divinely ordered; even hidden realms like Pātāla have a structured, purposeful arrangement within dhārmic cosmology.
No single tīrtha is praised in this verse; it functions as cosmographic teaching within the Skanda Purāṇa’s broader sacred-geography framework.
None is stated here; the verse is descriptive (cosmological enumeration), not prescriptive (vrata/dāna/snānādi).