Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 3
नारद उवाच । महादाख्यानमाख्यास्ये यथा जाता महीनदी । श्रृण्वन्नेतां कथां पुण्यां पुण्यमाप्स्यसि पांडव
nārada uvāca | mahādākhyānamākhyāsye yathā jātā mahīnadī | śrṛṇvannetāṃ kathāṃ puṇyāṃ puṇyamāpsyasi pāṃḍava
Nārada berkata: “Aku akan menceritakan kisah agung—bagaimana sungai bernama Mahī terlahir. Wahai Pāṇḍava, dengan mendengar kisah suci ini engkau akan memperoleh pahala kebajikan.”
Nārada
Tirtha: Mahīnadī
Type: river
Listener: Pāṇḍava (a Pandava prince, likely Yudhiṣṭhira in purāṇic framing)
Scene: Nārada, serene and authoritative, begins the ‘mahādākhyāna’; a subtle vision of a river emerging from the earth/through divine agency appears as a narrative vignette—flowing waters replacing the earlier fire-heat.
FAQs
Śravaṇa (devout listening) to sacred origin-stories is itself a dharmic practice that yields puṇya.
The Mahī River and its associated sacred landscape, introduced as a merit-giving subject of māhātmya.
The implied practice is puṇya-śravaṇa—listening attentively to a sacred kathā.