Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 44
सूर्याद्वै धर्मराड् जज्ञे ते नेदं निर्मितं पुरा । धर्मेण निर्मितं दृष्ट्वा धर्मारण्यमनुत्तमम् । धर्मारण्यमिति प्रोक्तं यन्मया स्कन्द पुण्यदम्
sūryādvai dharmarāḍ jajñe te nedaṃ nirmitaṃ purā | dharmeṇa nirmitaṃ dṛṣṭvā dharmāraṇyamanuttamam | dharmāraṇyamiti proktaṃ yanmayā skanda puṇyadam
सूर्यापासून धर्मराट जन्मला; त्यानेच प्राचीन काळी हे तीर्थ निर्माण केले. धर्माने घडविलेले हे अनुपम अरण्य पाहून यास ‘धर्मारण्य’ असे नाव पडले—हे स्कंदा, हे पुण्यदायक आहे, असे मी सांगतो.
Īśvara (Śiva)
Tirtha: Dharmāraṇya
Type: kshetra
Listener: Skanda
Scene: Dharmarāṭ, radiant with solar aura, consecrates or ‘creates’ a vast sacred forest: trees arranged like a mandala, a central shrine/altar implied; the very air glows with dharma.
FAQs
A holy site is holy because it is grounded in Dharma: the very landscape is portrayed as shaped by righteousness, making pilgrimage a direct encounter with dharma-made space.
Dharmāraṇya—the ‘Forest of Dharma’—is explicitly glorified as an unsurpassed puṇya-kṣetra.
No specific ritual is detailed here; the verse establishes the sacred origin and merit-bearing nature of Dharmāraṇya.