Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 1
नारद उवाच । ततो मयास्य तीर्थस्य रक्षणाय पुनर्जय । समाराध्य यथा देव्यः स्थापितास्तच्छृणुष्व भोः
nārada uvāca | tato mayāsya tīrthasya rakṣaṇāya punarjaya | samārādhya yathā devyaḥ sthāpitāstacchṛṇuṣva bhoḥ
नारद बोले—तब, हे विजयी, इस तीर्थ की रक्षा के लिए मैंने देवी की विधिवत् आराधना की। हे महोदय, सुनिए कि यहाँ देवियाँ किस प्रकार स्थापित की गईं।
Nārada
Tirtha: Unnamed here (same tīrtha under discussion)
Type: tirtha
Listener: ‘Jaya’/‘victorious one’ (addressee in the narrative)
Scene: Nārada, veena-bearing sage, performs worship to Devī for the tīrtha’s protection; multiple goddesses are installed—each with distinct emblems—forming a protective circle around the sacred ford/shrine.
FAQs
Sacred places are safeguarded through proper devotion and ritual worship of the Divine Feminine.
The verse refers to “this tīrtha” without naming it; the identification depends on the surrounding chapter narrative.
Samārādhana (formal propitiatory worship) of the Devīs and their establishment (sthāpana) for protection.