Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 7
गालव उवाच । इतिहासमिमं पुण्यं कथयामि तवानघ । शृणुष्वावहितो भूत्वा यज्ञायुतफलप्रदम्
gālava uvāca | itihāsamimaṃ puṇyaṃ kathayāmi tavānagha | śṛṇuṣvāvahito bhūtvā yajñāyutaphalapradam
ഗാലവൻ പറഞ്ഞു—ഹേ അനഘാ! ഈ പുണ്യ ഇതിഹാസം ഞാൻ നിനക്കു പറയുന്നു. ശ്രദ്ധയോടെ കേൾക്കുക; ഇത് പത്തായിരം യജ്ഞങ്ങളുടെ ഫലം നൽകുന്നു.
Gālava
Listener: Anagha (epithet for the listener: ‘sinless one’)
Scene: Gālava formally begins: ‘Gālava uvāca’—a poised sage promising a holy legend that grants the fruit of ten thousand sacrifices; the listener sits in reverent attention.
FAQs
Attentive listening to sacred history is itself a high-yield spiritual act, equated here with immense sacrificial merit.
This verse glorifies the act of hearing the māhātmya/itihāsa; the specific tīrtha is expected in the subsequent narration.
Śravaṇa (devout listening) is prescribed—‘listen attentively’—and is praised as yielding yajña-like fruit.