Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 6
जटामध्यस्थितां गङ्गां मोचयस्वेति भूतले । भास्वन्ती सा ततो मुक्ता रुद्रेण शिरसा भुवि
jaṭāmadhyasthitāṃ gaṅgāṃ mocayasveti bhūtale | bhāsvantī sā tato muktā rudreṇa śirasā bhuvi
‘जटांमध्ये स्थित गंगेला भूतलावर मुक्त करा’ अशी प्रार्थना केली. तेव्हा ती तेजस्विनी देवी रुद्राच्या शिरातून पृथ्वीवर मुक्त झाली.
Īśvara (Śiva)
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (released from Śiva’s jaṭā)
Type: river
Listener: King
Scene: The gods beseech Rudra to release Gaṅgā from within his matted locks; the radiant river-goddess emerges from Śiva’s head and descends to earth in a luminous cascade.
FAQs
Śiva mediates overwhelming divine power into a form that can bless the world—grace makes the transcendent accessible.
The verse supports the broader tīrtha-māhātmya by grounding sanctity in Gaṅgā’s descent from Rudra’s head, a key sacred-geography motif.
No explicit rite; it narrates the divine release that underwrites later practices such as river-bathing and tīrtha observance.