Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 44
सूर्याद्वै धर्मराड् जज्ञे ते नेदं निर्मितं पुरा । धर्मेण निर्मितं दृष्ट्वा धर्मारण्यमनुत्तमम् । धर्मारण्यमिति प्रोक्तं यन्मया स्कन्द पुण्यदम्
sūryādvai dharmarāḍ jajñe te nedaṃ nirmitaṃ purā | dharmeṇa nirmitaṃ dṛṣṭvā dharmāraṇyamanuttamam | dharmāraṇyamiti proktaṃ yanmayā skanda puṇyadam
ಸೂರ್ಯನಿಂದ ಧರ್ಮರಾಟ್ ಜನಿಸಿದನು; ಅವನೇ ಪುರಾತನಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಣ್ಯಕ್ಷೇತ್ರವನ್ನು ನಿರ್ಮಿಸಿದನು. ಧರ್ಮದಿಂದ ನಿರ್ಮಿತವಾದ ಈ ಅನುತ್ತಮ ಅರಣ್ಯವನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ‘ಧರ್ಮಾರಣ್ಯ’ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಲಾಯಿತು—ಓ ಸ್ಕಂದ, ಇದು ಪುಣ್ಯಪ್ರದವೆಂದು ನಾನು ಘೋಷಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ.
Īśvara (Śiva)
Tirtha: Dharmāraṇya
Type: kshetra
Listener: Skanda
Scene: Dharmarāṭ, radiant with solar aura, consecrates or ‘creates’ a vast sacred forest: trees arranged like a mandala, a central shrine/altar implied; the very air glows with dharma.
FAQs
A holy site is holy because it is grounded in Dharma: the very landscape is portrayed as shaped by righteousness, making pilgrimage a direct encounter with dharma-made space.
Dharmāraṇya—the ‘Forest of Dharma’—is explicitly glorified as an unsurpassed puṇya-kṣetra.
No specific ritual is detailed here; the verse establishes the sacred origin and merit-bearing nature of Dharmāraṇya.