Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 1
स्कंद उवाच । जगज्जनन्याः पार्वत्याः पुरोगस्ते पुरारिणा । यथाख्यायि कथा पुण्या तथा ते कथयाम्यहम्
skaṃda uvāca | jagajjananyāḥ pārvatyāḥ purogaste purāriṇā | yathākhyāyi kathā puṇyā tathā te kathayāmyaham
സ്കന്ദൻ പറഞ്ഞു—ജഗന്മാതാവായ പാർവതിയുടെ സന്നിധിയിൽ, ത്രിപുരാരിയായ ശിവൻ മുൻപ് അഗസ്ത്യനോട് പറഞ്ഞ പുണ്യകഥയെ അതേപടി ഞാൻ നിനക്കു പറയുന്നു।
Skanda (explicit)
Tirtha: Kāśī (contextual; new section begins)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya (and by extension the audience)
Scene: Skanda speaking as a youthful divine teacher; Agastya seated with folded hands; Śiva and Pārvatī in the background as the original source scene, shown like a ‘flashback’ vignette; a luminous thread connecting the three, symbolizing transmission of puṇya-kathā.
FAQs
Sacred knowledge is preserved through faithful transmission; hearing a puṇya-kathā is itself dharma and a purifier.
The verse sets the narrative frame in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa; the specific tīrtha focus is introduced in the subsequent verses of the chapter.
Implicitly, śravaṇa (devout listening) of the purāṇic kathā is endorsed as spiritually fruitful.