अगस्त्य उवाच । इत्थं सधर्मिणि कथां शुक्रलोकस्य सुव्रते । शृण्वन्नांगारकं लोकमालुलोकेऽथ स द्विजः
agastya uvāca | itthaṃ sadharmiṇi kathāṃ śukralokasya suvrate | śṛṇvannāṃgārakaṃ lokamāluloke'tha sa dvijaḥ
Agastya berkata: Demikianlah, wahai yang berikrar mulia, ketika mendengar kisah yang selaras dharma tentang alam Śukra, brāhmaṇa (dvija) itu lalu menyaksikan dunia Aṅgāraka (Maṅgala/Mars).
Agastya
Tirtha: Aṅgāraka-loka
Type: kshetra
Listener: Suvratā / ‘sadharmiṇī’ addressed in the verse (as translated: ‘O virtuous one’)
Scene: Agastya narrates; a brāhmaṇa, absorbed in the tale of Śukra-loka, experiences a visionary shift and beholds the red-tinged realm of Aṅgāraka—martial hues, iron-red landscapes, a distant glowing planet-sphere.
Purāṇic listening (śravaṇa) is presented as transformative—revealing higher cosmic realities and the moral order behind them.
While the line is cosmological, it remains part of the Kāśīkhaṇḍa narrative stream that ultimately serves Kāśī’s māhātmya context.
Śravaṇa (devotional listening) is implied as the practice—hearing sacred accounts as a dharmic discipline.