Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 3
नारद उवाच । महादाख्यानमाख्यास्ये यथा जाता महीनदी । श्रृण्वन्नेतां कथां पुण्यां पुण्यमाप्स्यसि पांडव
nārada uvāca | mahādākhyānamākhyāsye yathā jātā mahīnadī | śrṛṇvannetāṃ kathāṃ puṇyāṃ puṇyamāpsyasi pāṃḍava
नारद बोले—मैं तुम्हें वह महान आख्यान सुनाऊँगा कि ‘मही’ नाम की नदी कैसे उत्पन्न हुई। हे पाण्डव, इस पवित्र कथा को सुनकर तुम पुण्य प्राप्त करोगे।
Nārada
Tirtha: Mahīnadī
Type: river
Listener: Pāṇḍava (a Pandava prince, likely Yudhiṣṭhira in purāṇic framing)
Scene: Nārada, serene and authoritative, begins the ‘mahādākhyāna’; a subtle vision of a river emerging from the earth/through divine agency appears as a narrative vignette—flowing waters replacing the earlier fire-heat.
FAQs
Śravaṇa (devout listening) to sacred origin-stories is itself a dharmic practice that yields puṇya.
The Mahī River and its associated sacred landscape, introduced as a merit-giving subject of māhātmya.
The implied practice is puṇya-śravaṇa—listening attentively to a sacred kathā.