Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 24
नरकस्थानपि पितॄन्मातृतः पितृतो नृप । अक्षयं सप्त सप्तैव नयेदेवं शिवालये
narakasthānapi pitṝnmātṛtaḥ pitṛto nṛpa | akṣayaṃ sapta saptaiva nayedevaṃ śivālaye
ഹേ രാജാവേ, മാതൃപക്ഷത്തെയും പിതൃപക്ഷത്തെയും നരകസ്ഥരായ പിതൃദേവന്മാരെയും അവിടെ നിന്ന് മുന്നോട്ട് നയിക്കുന്നു—ഏഴും ഏഴും, അക്ഷയഫലത്തോടെ—ഇങ്ങനെ ശിവാലയം പ്രാപിക്കുമ്പോൾ.
Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa) (deduced from Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa māhātmya narration style)
Tirtha: Vastrāpatha-kṣetra (Śiva-ālaya)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Nṛpa (king)
Scene: A devotee stands before a Śiva shrine offering water and sesame; behind him appear faint ancestral figures rising from a dark underworld into light—seven on the mother’s side and seven on the father’s side—guided toward a luminous Śiva-abode.
FAQs
Devotion to Śiva at a sanctified kṣetra is presented as so powerful that it benefits not only the practitioner but also uplifts ancestors from suffering states.
The Vastrāpatha kṣetra within the Prabhāsa region, characterized as a Śivālaya (Śiva’s sacred abode/temple-site).
No explicit ritual is named here; the verse stresses the fruit of attaining/approaching Śiva’s abode at this kṣetra—resulting in ancestral uplift.