Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 44
अद्य पुण्यतिथिर्नाम वैशाखी पुण्यदा परा । यस्यामस्य पुरो भक्त्या नरः कुर्यात्प्रजागरम् । महाकालस्य देवस्य सौख्यं प्राप्नोत्यसंशयम्
adya puṇyatithirnāma vaiśākhī puṇyadā parā | yasyāmasya puro bhaktyā naraḥ kuryātprajāgaram | mahākālasya devasya saukhyaṃ prāpnotyasaṃśayam
आज ‘वैशाखी’ नावाची परम पुण्यदायिनी तिथी आहे. या दिवशी जो मनुष्य या महाकालदेवाच्या समोर भक्तीने रात्र-जागर करतो, तो निःसंशय प्रभूची कृपा व कल्याण प्राप्त करतो.
Deductive: Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa) narrating within Nāgara Khaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya
Tirtha: Mahākāla (Mahākāleśvara)
Type: kshetra
Listener: The pilgrim/narrator (and by extension the audience)
Scene: A priest or local declares the day as Vaiśākhī, ‘supremely merit-giving’; devotees keep an all-night vigil before Mahākāla, lamps blazing, chanting rising, with an assurance of well-being.
FAQs
Sacred time (puṇya-tithi) amplifies devotion; a sincere vigil before Mahākāla is taught to yield assured auspiciousness.
Mahākāla’s presence is central; traditionally this points toward Mahākāla’s celebrated sphere such as Ujjain, though the precise tīrtha name is not stated in this verse.
Keeping a prajāgara (devotional night vigil) before Mahākāla on the Vaiśākhī holy tithi.