Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 4
वसिष्ठ उवाच । अस्त्युपायो नगानां तु तत्र नेतुं महानग । तवायं तनयस्तत्र विख्यातो नंदिवर्द्धनः
vasiṣṭha uvāca | astyupāyo nagānāṃ tu tatra netuṃ mahānaga | tavāyaṃ tanayastatra vikhyāto naṃdivarddhanaḥ
വസിഷ്ഠൻ പറഞ്ഞു—ഹേ മഹാനഗമേ, പർവ്വതങ്ങളെ അവിടേക്ക് കൊണ്ടുപോകാൻ ഒരു ഉപായമുണ്ട്. അവിടെ നിന്റെ പുത്രൻ ‘നന്ദിവർദ്ധനൻ’ എന്ന പേരിൽ പ്രസിദ്ധൻ; അവൻ തന്നെയാണ് ഇത് സാധിപ്പിക്കുക.
Vasiṣṭha
Tirtha: Arbuda (via Nandivardhana’s agency)
Type: kshetra
Listener: A ‘great mountain’ (mahānaga/mahānagaḥ—personified mountain)
Scene: Sage Vasiṣṭha, calm and radiant, addressing a personified great mountain; he gestures toward a youthful, heroic figure—Nandivardhana—standing ready as the ‘means’.
FAQs
Dharma is upheld through wise counsel: even great obstacles can be resolved by a proper means (upāya) aligned with duty.
The verse sits within the Arbuda-khaṇḍa context, oriented to the Arbuda (Mount Abu) sacred landscape rather than a specific tīrtha in this line.
No explicit rite is stated; the focus is on appointing an agent (Nandivardhana) to accomplish a sacred task.