Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 18
इदं मया पार्थ तव प्रणीतं गुप्तस्य क्षेत्रस्य समासयोगात् । माहात्म्यमेतत्सकलं शृणोति यः स्याद्विशुद्धः किमु वच्मि भूयः
idaṃ mayā pārtha tava praṇītaṃ guptasya kṣetrasya samāsayogāt | māhātmyametatsakalaṃ śṛṇoti yaḥ syādviśuddhaḥ kimu vacmi bhūyaḥ
ഹേ പാർഥാ! ഗുപ്തമായ പുണ്യക്ഷേത്രത്തിന്റെ കഥാസംഗ്രഹം ചേർത്തു ഞാൻ നിനക്കിത് അറിയിച്ചു. ഈ സമ്പൂർണ്ണ മഹാത്മ്യം ശ്രവിക്കുന്നവൻ ശുദ്ധനാകുന്നു—ഇനിയും എന്തു പറയണം?
Unspecified (narrative voice within Māheśvarakhaṇḍa; likely Sūta/Lomaharṣaṇa tradition)
Tirtha: गुप्तक्षेत्र (unnamed/implicit in verse)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Pārtha (as addressed in verse)
Scene: A calm didactic close: the narrator addresses ‘Pārtha’, presenting a compiled account of a hidden kṣetra; listeners sit in reverent stillness as the māhātmya concludes with a promise of purification through hearing.
FAQs
Śravaṇa (devout listening) to a site’s māhātmya itself purifies, reinforcing Purāṇic dharma through sacred narration.
A ‘hidden sacred region’ (gupta-kṣetra) encompassing the Mokṣeśvara/Garbheśvara-related tīrthas of this chapter.
Hearing the complete māhātmya (kathā-śravaṇa) as a purificatory religious act.