Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 34
सूर्य आत्मास्य जगतो वेदेषु परिपठ्यते । स एव चेज्वालयिता को नस्त्राता भवेदिह
sūrya ātmāsya jagato vedeṣu paripaṭhyate | sa eva cejvālayitā ko nastrātā bhavediha
ヴェーダには、太陽こそこの世界の真我であると誦される。もしその御身が万物を焼き尽くす者となるなら、ここで誰が我らの守護者となろうか。
Skanda (deduced: Kāśī Khaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra (Viśveśvara-kshetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and other ṛṣis at Naimiṣāraṇya (traditional)
Scene: A darkened, fearful world looks up to a blazing, potentially destructive Sun; sages and citizens in Kāśī gesture in alarm, questioning who can protect if the cosmic eye itself burns.
FAQs
The Sun is upheld as life-sustaining and world-ensouling; if the sustainer turns destructive, refuge must be sought in the supreme governance of Īśvara.
No single tīrtha is named; the verse is a doctrinal statement embedded in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa’s narrative setting.
None; the verse appeals to Vedic testimony and existential dependence on the Sun.