Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 61
वर्षंति जलदाः कामं भवन्त्योषधयोऽखिलाः । यत्किंचिद्भूतले ज्ञानं शास्त्रं वा सुरसत्तम । तत्तत्र समभावेन न सत्यं नैव चानृतम्
varṣaṃti jaladāḥ kāmaṃ bhavantyoṣadhayo'khilāḥ | yatkiṃcidbhūtale jñānaṃ śāstraṃ vā surasattama | tattatra samabhāvena na satyaṃ naiva cānṛtam
ഇഷ്ടംപോലെ മേഘങ്ങൾ മഴ പെയ്യുന്നു; എല്ലാ ഔഷധികളും സമൃദ്ധിയായി വളരുന്നു. ഹേ ദേവശ്രേഷ്ഠാ! ഭൂമിയിലെ ഏതൊരു ജ്ഞാനമോ ശാസ്ത്രമോ അവിടെ സമഭാവത്താൽ—അത് പൂർണ്ണ സത്യമുമല്ല, പൂർണ്ണ അസത്യമുമല്ല।
Skanda (deduced)
Listener: surasattama / surādhīśa (best/lord of the gods—typically Indra in such address)
Scene: A cosmic tableau: monsoon clouds releasing measured rain over a verdant earth of medicinal herbs, while sages debate in a hall where scrolls and śāstras glow with mixed light—half luminous, half shadowed—signifying ‘neither true nor untrue’.
FAQs
It characterizes Dvāpara as balanced and mixed: nature can still be favorable, yet knowledge and discourse are no longer purely aligned with truth.
No specific tīrtha is named in this verse; it supports the chapter’s broader māhātmya discourse through yuga characterization.
None explicitly; the focus is on cosmological and epistemic conditions rather than ritual action.