Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 61
यम उवाच । यदि मे वांछितं देव ददासि तर्हि शंकर । अस्मिन्स्थाने महाक्षेत्रे मन्नामा भव सर्वदा
yama uvāca | yadi me vāṃchitaṃ deva dadāsi tarhi śaṃkara | asminsthāne mahākṣetre mannāmā bhava sarvadā
Yama disse: «Se me concedes, ó Deus—ó Śaṅkara—o desejo que me é caro, então, neste lugar, neste grande kṣetra sagrado, que o meu nome permaneça para sempre.»
Yama
Tirtha: Dharmāraṇya (requested to bear Yama’s name)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaṅkara (Śiva)
Scene: Yama, dignified and restrained, petitions Śaṅkara: ‘Let my name abide here forever’; the kṣetra is shown as a vast sacred grove with a central liṅga or luminous axis.
FAQs
Holy places become enduring centers of merit when sanctioned by divine will and upheld by dharma.
The Mahākṣetra identified as Dharmāraṇya (Dharmāraṇyakhaṇḍa).
No specific ritual is prescribed; the focus is on establishing the site’s enduring sacred identity (nāma-khyāti).