Skanda Purana — Vishnu Khanda, Shloka 5
जंबूवनरता ये च ये गोदावरिवासिनः । वाराणसीश्रिता ये च मथुरावासिनस्तथा
jaṃbūvanaratā ye ca ye godāvarivāsinaḥ | vārāṇasīśritā ye ca mathurāvāsinastathā
आणि जे जंबूवनात रत होते, जे गोदावरीकाठी वसत, जे वाराणसीचा आश्रय घेत, तसेच जे मथुरेत निवास करीत—(ते सर्वही उपस्थित होते)।
Sūta (narrating the gathering of sages)
Tirtha: Godāvarī; Vārāṇasī; Mathurā; Jambūvana
Type: river
Listener: Ṛṣi assembly at Naimiṣāraṇya
Scene: Sages from four sacred zones: riverbank hermits of Godāvarī with flowing water and ghāṭa steps; Kāśī ascetics with a distant liṅga-temple silhouette; Mathurā devotees with Yamunā-like ghāṭas and Krishna iconography; and a forest group from Jambūvana—converging toward the central Naimiṣa assembly.
FAQs
The Purāṇic vision treats India’s tīrthas as a single sacred mandala, uniting sages from diverse holy centers for dharma-teaching.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī) and Mathurā are explicitly named, alongside the Godāvarī river-region and Jambūvana.
No direct ritual instruction appears; the verse functions as a sacred-geography roll call.