Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 4
वसिष्ठ उवाच । अस्त्युपायो नगानां तु तत्र नेतुं महानग । तवायं तनयस्तत्र विख्यातो नंदिवर्द्धनः
vasiṣṭha uvāca | astyupāyo nagānāṃ tu tatra netuṃ mahānaga | tavāyaṃ tanayastatra vikhyāto naṃdivarddhanaḥ
ವಸಿಷ್ಠರು ಹೇಳಿದರು—ಹೇ ಮಹಾನಗ, ಪರ್ವತಗಳನ್ನು ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಕರೆದೊಯ್ಯಲು ಒಂದು ಉಪಾಯವಿದೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ನಿನ್ನ ಪುತ್ರ ‘ನಂದಿವರ್ಧನ’ ಎಂದು ಖ್ಯಾತನಾಗಿದ್ದಾನೆ; ಅವನೇ ಇದನ್ನು ನೆರವೇರಿಸುವನು.
Vasiṣṭha
Tirtha: Arbuda (via Nandivardhana’s agency)
Type: kshetra
Listener: A ‘great mountain’ (mahānaga/mahānagaḥ—personified mountain)
Scene: Sage Vasiṣṭha, calm and radiant, addressing a personified great mountain; he gestures toward a youthful, heroic figure—Nandivardhana—standing ready as the ‘means’.
FAQs
Dharma is upheld through wise counsel: even great obstacles can be resolved by a proper means (upāya) aligned with duty.
The verse sits within the Arbuda-khaṇḍa context, oriented to the Arbuda (Mount Abu) sacred landscape rather than a specific tīrtha in this line.
No explicit rite is stated; the focus is on appointing an agent (Nandivardhana) to accomplish a sacred task.