Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 18
कस्मिन्देशे च तत्तीर्थं शिवः केनात्र संस्थितः । स्वयंभूर्भगवान्रुद्रः कथं तत्र स्थितः स्वयम् । प्रभो मे महदाश्चर्यं वर्तते तद्वदाधुना
kasmindeśe ca tattīrthaṃ śivaḥ kenātra saṃsthitaḥ | svayaṃbhūrbhagavānrudraḥ kathaṃ tatra sthitaḥ svayam | prabho me mahadāścaryaṃ vartate tadvadādhunā
Di negeri manakah tīrtha itu berada? Siapakah yang menegakkan Śiva di sini? Bagaimanakah Rudra, Tuhan yang svayambhū, yang diberkati, bersemayam di sana dengan sendirinya? Wahai Prabhu, ini suatu keajaiban besar bagiku—nyatakanlah sekarang.
Pārvatī (Umā), addressing Śiva
Tirtha: Vastrāpatha tīrtha
Type: kshetra
Listener: Īśvara (to answer)
Scene: A devotee, astonished, asks: where is this tīrtha, who established Śiva there, and how did the self-born Rudra come to dwell there by himself?
FAQs
Reverence for tīrthas begins with inquiry—understanding how the Divine manifests in sacred geography deepens faith and pilgrimage-intent (bhāva).
The verse introduces the inquiry into the Vastrāpatha-kṣetra tīrtha within the Prabhāsa region, whose full māhātmya is explained in the following verses.
None is stated here; it is a preparatory question that opens the māhātmya narration.