Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 11
अत्राहं चैव नि र्मुक्तः स्त्रीहत्योद्भवपातकात् । तस्मादत्रैव राजेंद्र तिष्ठामः पंचवासरान्
atrāhaṃ caiva ni rmuktaḥ strīhatyodbhavapātakāt | tasmādatraiva rājeṃdra tiṣṭhāmaḥ paṃcavāsarān
इथेच मी स्त्रीहत्येतून उद्भवलेल्या पातकातून मुक्त झालो; म्हणून, हे राजेंद्र, आपण इथेच पाच दिवस थांबूया।
Bhīṣma
Tirtha: Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Dhṛtarāṣṭra (addressed as ‘rājendra’)
Scene: Bhīṣma, humbled, speaks of past wrongdoing and liberation; the group resolves to remain five days, setting up a camp or lodging near the shrine, with a mood of solemn purification.
FAQs
Holy places function as prāyaścitta (atonement): sincere presence in a powerful kṣetra is presented as capable of lifting grave karmic burdens.
Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra is implied as the ‘here’ where Bhīṣma experienced purification.
A prescribed observance is implied: to remain at the kṣetra for five days (pañca-vāsara), as part of tīrtha-based purification.