Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 121
युधिष्ठिर उवाच । कोऽप्यत्र विधिरुद्दिष्टः पतने ऋषिसत्तम । एतन्मे सर्वमाचक्ष्व संशयोऽस्ति महामुने
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | ko'pyatra vidhiruddiṣṭaḥ patane ṛṣisattama | etanme sarvamācakṣva saṃśayo'sti mahāmune
Yudhiṣṭhira berkata: “Wahai yang terbaik antara para resi, adakah suatu vidhi ditetapkan di sini mengenai perbuatan patana (jatuh)? Terangkan semuanya kepadaku dengan lengkap, wahai Mahāmuni; keraguan telah timbul dalam diriku.”
Yudhiṣṭhira
Tirtha: Revā-tīrtha (Narmadā)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Mārkaṇḍeya
Scene: Yudhiṣṭhira, humble and earnest, questions the aged sage Mārkaṇḍeya seated near a riverbank hermitage; the atmosphere is serious, with scrolls/kuśa grass and ritual vessels present.
FAQs
Dharma is not guesswork: sacred acts should be approached through proper injunction (vidhi) and clarified doubt.
The broader passage belongs to the Revā (Narmadā) sacred geography in the Āvantya Khaṇḍa, leading into Jvāleśvara-Tīrtha later in the adhyāya.
This verse itself asks for the prescription; the detailed ritual is given in the following verses.