Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 57
कपिला उवाच । ब्रह्मपुत्र त्वया देयं यदि मे त्वं श्रृणुष्व तत् । अष्टौ विप्रसहस्रामि मम देहीति नारद
kapilā uvāca | brahmaputra tvayā deyaṃ yadi me tvaṃ śrṛṇuṣva tat | aṣṭau viprasahasrāmi mama dehīti nārada
Kapila berkata: “Wahai putra Brahmā, jika engkau hendak memberiku anugerah, dengarkanlah: berikan kepadaku delapan ribu brāhmaṇa, wahai Nārada.”
Kapila
Listener: Nārada (addressed as Brahmaputra)
Scene: Kapila speaks with calm authority to Nārada, requesting ‘eight thousand brāhmaṇas’; the scale is suggested symbolically—rows of seated scholars or a distant assembly.
FAQs
Purāṇic narratives often magnify dāna by scale and intent, highlighting generosity directed toward sustaining dharma and the learned.
The tīrtha context remains the backdrop, where extraordinary requests and gifts are framed as tīrtha-born merit.
A dāna request: ‘vipra-sahasra’ (mass gifting/support of brāhmaṇas), specified as eight thousand.