Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 23
न तदस्ति धरापृष्ठे नगरं पत्तनं तथा । तीर्थं वा यत्र नो तस्य विद्यते त्रिदशालयः
na tadasti dharāpṛṣṭhe nagaraṃ pattanaṃ tathā | tīrthaṃ vā yatra no tasya vidyate tridaśālayaḥ
ഭൂമിയുടെ മേൽ അവന്റെ ദേവാലയം—ദേവഗണങ്ങളുടെ വാസസ്ഥലം—ഇല്ലാത്ത നഗരം, പട്ടണം, തീർത്ഥം ഒന്നും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നില്ല।
Narrator (Skanda Purāṇa narrative voice; exact speaker not explicit in snippet)
Scene: A panoramic sacred map: cities, market-towns, and river-fords each marked by a shining shrine—‘dwelling of the gods’—suggesting a network of sanctuaries across the land.
FAQs
True devotion expresses itself in public sacred works—establishing temples so that divine presence blesses every place.
No single tīrtha is isolated; the verse universalizes tīrtha culture by asserting divine shrines across the land.
Implicitly, the building/establishing of temples (deva-ālaya) as a meritorious religious act.