Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 32
सकलं माघमासं च या स्त्री स्नानं समाचरेत् । पुमान्वा प्रातरुत्थाय स प्रयागफलं लभेत्
sakalaṃ māghamāsaṃ ca yā strī snānaṃ samācaret | pumānvā prātarutthāya sa prayāgaphalaṃ labhet
जी स्त्री संपूर्ण माघमास स्नान-व्रत करते, किंवा जो पुरुष पहाटे उठून स्नान करतो—त्याला प्रयागस्नानासारखेच पुण्यफळ मिळते।
Unspecified (Māhātmya narrative voice; likely Sūta/Lomaharṣaṇa in Nāgara-khaṇḍa framing)
Tirtha: Karṇotpalā-tīrtha
Type: kund
Listener: Ṛṣis at Naimiṣāraṇya (implied)
Scene: At dawn in Māgha, devotees—women and men—step into a lotus pond, hands joined, offering arghya; pale winter sun, mist over water; a small shrine of Śiva visible nearby.
FAQs
Consistent observance (daily dawn bathing in Māgha) can confer great tīrtha-merit, equated here with Prayāga.
Prayāga is invoked as the benchmark of merit, while the passage occurs within the Karṇotpalā-tīrtha/Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya context.
Māgha-māsa snāna: bathing throughout the entire month, especially after rising at dawn.