Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 77
ग्रहाणां भास्करो यद्वन्नक्षत्राणां निशाकरः । तद्वत्स्थानजविप्राणां श्रेष्ठोऽष्टकुलिकः स्मृतः
grahāṇāṃ bhāskaro yadvannakṣatrāṇāṃ niśākaraḥ | tadvatsthānajaviprāṇāṃ śreṣṭho'ṣṭakulikaḥ smṛtaḥ
ಗ್ರಹಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಸ್ಕರ (ಸೂರ್ಯ) ಪ್ರಧಾನನಾಗಿರುವಂತೆ, ನಕ್ಷತ್ರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಶಾಕರ (ಚಂದ್ರ) ಪ್ರಧಾನನಾಗಿರುವಂತೆ, ಆ ಪುಣ್ಯಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಜನಿಸಿದ ಸ್ಥಳಜ ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣರಲ್ಲಿ ಅಷ್ಟಕುಲಿಕನು ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠನೆಂದು ಸ್ಮೃತ।
Viśvāmitra (deduced)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A night-to-day diptych: Sun and Moon above a tīrtha-ghāṭa; below, an aṣṭakulika brāhmaṇa stands like a ‘human luminary’ guiding pilgrims with a staff and scripture.
FAQs
Dharma in a tīrtha includes discerning spiritual qualification; selecting the best-suited officiant is portrayed as natural and orderly, like cosmic hierarchies.
The ‘sthāna’ (sacred place) context is praised generally within Nāgara Khaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya; the verse itself does not name a particular site.
Guidance by implication: for rites performed at a sacred place, the foremost local Brāhmaṇa lineage/person (Aṣṭakulika) should be preferred.
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