Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 7
ईश्वर उवाच । अस्मिंस्तीर्थवरेपुण्ये यः स्नास्यति नरो भुवि । तस्य पापसहस्राणि यास्यंति विलयं ध्रुवम् १
īśvara uvāca | asmiṃstīrthavarepuṇye yaḥ snāsyati naro bhuvi | tasya pāpasahasrāṇi yāsyaṃti vilayaṃ dhruvam 1
ഈശ്വരൻ അരുളിച്ചെയ്തു—“ഈ പരമ പുണ്യ തീർത്ഥത്തിൽ ഭൂമിയിൽ ആരെങ്കിലും സ്നാനം ചെയ്താൽ, അവന്റെ ആയിരക്കണക്കിന് പാപങ്ങൾ നിശ്ചയമായി ലയിക്കും।”
Īśvara (Śiva)
Tirtha: Haratīrtha
Type: tirtha
Listener: the supplicant figure (unnamed)
Scene: Īśvara speaks a boon-like proclamation: bathing in this sacred tīrtha dissolves thousands of sins; the setting suggests a sanctified waterbody and attentive listener.
FAQs
Pilgrimage is framed as moral purification: sincere bathing at a divinely sanctioned tīrtha leads to pāpa-kṣaya (dissolution of sins).
The verse praises “this best tīrtha,” which is named and established as Hara-tīrtha in the following verses.
Snāna (ritual bathing) in the tīrtha is explicitly prescribed as the act that grants purification.