Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 36
इयं च महती सेना सागरश्चापि दुस्तरः । अंभोराशिरयं नीलश्चंचलोर्म्मिसमाकुलः
iyaṃ ca mahatī senā sāgaraścāpi dustaraḥ | aṃbhorāśirayaṃ nīlaścaṃcalormmisamākulaḥ
“ഈ സേന മഹത്താണ്; സാഗരവും കടക്കാൻ ദുഷ്കരം. ഈ നീല ജലരാശി ചഞ്ചല തരംഗങ്ങളാൽ കലുഷിതമാണ്।”
Narrator (contextual Purāṇic narrator; reporting Rāma’s assessment)
Tirtha: Setu-samudra (Rāma-setu seaway)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Pilgrimage audience
Scene: A sweeping view of the restless blue ocean with churning waves; Rāma and the vast vānarāṇī stand at the shore, dwarfed by the expanse, contemplating the crossing.
FAQs
Obstacles on a dharmic path are acknowledged plainly; realism joined to resolve becomes the ground for divine and human cooperation.
The verse evokes the Setu region’s defining landscape—the ocean to be crossed—within the Setu-khaṇḍa sacred geography leading to Setubandha/Rāmeśvaram.
None; it is a descriptive setup for the Setu/ocean-crossing episode that follows.