Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 3
नारद उवाच । महादाख्यानमाख्यास्ये यथा जाता महीनदी । श्रृण्वन्नेतां कथां पुण्यां पुण्यमाप्स्यसि पांडव
nārada uvāca | mahādākhyānamākhyāsye yathā jātā mahīnadī | śrṛṇvannetāṃ kathāṃ puṇyāṃ puṇyamāpsyasi pāṃḍava
നാരദൻ പറഞ്ഞു—‘മഹീ’ എന്ന നദി എങ്ങനെ ജനിച്ചു എന്ന മഹാഖ്യാനം ഞാൻ പറയാം. ഹേ പാണ്ഡവാ, ഈ പുണ്യകഥ ശ്രവിച്ചാൽ നീ പുണ്യം പ്രാപിക്കും.
Nārada
Tirtha: Mahīnadī
Type: river
Listener: Pāṇḍava (a Pandava prince, likely Yudhiṣṭhira in purāṇic framing)
Scene: Nārada, serene and authoritative, begins the ‘mahādākhyāna’; a subtle vision of a river emerging from the earth/through divine agency appears as a narrative vignette—flowing waters replacing the earlier fire-heat.
FAQs
Śravaṇa (devout listening) to sacred origin-stories is itself a dharmic practice that yields puṇya.
The Mahī River and its associated sacred landscape, introduced as a merit-giving subject of māhātmya.
The implied practice is puṇya-śravaṇa—listening attentively to a sacred kathā.