Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 63
भवद्भिर्नोत्सहे स्थातुं जनस्पर्शविनाकृतः । एवमुक्त्वा ततो देवि समुद्रः सरितांपतिः । आत्मानं शोषयामास दुःखेन महता स्थितः
bhavadbhirnotsahe sthātuṃ janasparśavinākṛtaḥ | evamuktvā tato devi samudraḥ saritāṃpatiḥ | ātmānaṃ śoṣayāmāsa duḥkhena mahatā sthitaḥ
“Aku tak sanggup tinggal di hadapan kalian, karena terhalang dari sentuhan makhluk hidup.” Setelah berkata demikian, wahai Dewi, Samudra—penguasa segala sungai—dalam duka yang amat besar mulai mengeringkan dirinya sendiri.
Narrator (contextual), reporting Samudra’s words and act
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devi addressed within the narrative; broader audience is the listening sages
Scene: The Ocean, personified as a majestic deity, speaks to the Goddess and begins to dry himself up; the shoreline recedes, waves stilling, with a palpable aura of sorrow over the coastal tīrtha.
FAQs
Separation from the world and the burden of curse-induced fate can drive even cosmic beings toward intense penitential transformation.
Prabhāsakṣetra, whose māhātmya frames the ocean’s transformation as part of the tīrtha’s sacred history.
No direct ritual; it depicts tapas-like self-restraint (drying up) as a narrative act.