Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 1
वाण्युवाच । पलाशो हरिरूपेण सेव्यते हि पुराविदैः । बहुभिर्ह्युपचारैस्तु ब्रह्मवृक्षस्य सेवनम्
vāṇyuvāca | palāśo harirūpeṇa sevyate hi purāvidaiḥ | bahubhirhyupacāraistu brahmavṛkṣasya sevanam
വാണി പറഞ്ഞു—പുരാതനപരമ്പര അറിയുന്നവർ പളാശവൃക്ഷത്തെ ഹരി-സ്വരൂപമായി കരുതി ആരാധിക്കുന്നു. ഈ ബ്രഹ്മവൃക്ഷത്തിന്റെ സേവനം അനേകം ഉപചാരങ്ങളോടും അർപ്പണങ്ങളോടും കൂടി ചെയ്യേണ്ടതാണ്.
Vāṇī
Tirtha: Palāśa-vṛkṣa (as worship-object within the kṣetra)
Type: kund
Listener: Implied audience within the narrative frame (likely Nārada/assembly in the Cāturmāsya discourse)
Scene: Vāṇī (Sarasvatī) instructs devotees: a palāśa tree is worshipped as Hari; attendants bring offerings—water pot, flowers, incense, lamp—around a flowering palāśa.
FAQs
To see sacred nature as divine—serving the palāśa as Hari becomes a dharmic act of reverence that yields spiritual merit.
This verse functions as a tree-māhātmya within the Nāgara Khaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya, praising the palāśa (Brahmavṛkṣa) as an object of worship rather than naming a single city-tīrtha.
Performing upacāras—formal acts of worship and offerings—toward the palāśa, honoring it as Hari.