Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 4
स्कंद उवाच । कथं देवसरोनाम पंपा चंपा गया तथा । वाराणस्यधिका चैव कथमश्वमुखो हरिः
skaṃda uvāca | kathaṃ devasaronāma paṃpā caṃpā gayā tathā | vārāṇasyadhikā caiva kathamaśvamukho hariḥ
സ്കന്ദൻ പറഞ്ഞു—‘ദേവസര’ എന്ന പേര് എങ്ങനെ വന്നു? പമ്പാ, ചമ്പാ, ഗയാ എന്നിവ എങ്ങനെ ഉദ്ഭവിച്ചു? ഇത് വാരാണസിയേക്കാൾ ശ്രേഷ്ഠമെന്ന് എന്തുകൊണ്ട് പറയുന്നു? അവിടെ ഹരി ‘അശ്വമുഖൻ’ എങ്ങനെ ആയി?
Skanda
Tirtha: Devasara; Pampā; Campā; Gayā (as associated tīrthas within the Dharmāraṇya narrative)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Īśvara (Śiva)
Scene: Skanda, inquiring with reverence, asks about the origins of several tīrtha names and why the place is said to surpass even Vārāṇasī; he also asks how Hari became horse-faced there.
FAQs
Names, rankings, and divine forms at tīrthas are not arbitrary; they encode spiritual history and the dharma of place.
Dharmāraṇya and its associated tīrtha-complexes, set in comparison with Vārāṇasī.
None—this verse is a set of questions about origins and sacred status.