Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 35
स्वतेजसा द्योतयंती सर्वमाभासयज्जगत् । अनुव्रजंती गंगा वै तयोक्ता वरवर्णिनि
svatejasā dyotayaṃtī sarvamābhāsayajjagat | anuvrajaṃtī gaṃgā vai tayoktā varavarṇini
அவள் தன் ஒளியால் பிரகாசித்து உலகமெங்கும் ஒளிரச் செய்தாள்; அவளைத் தொடர்ந்து கங்கையும் வந்தாள்—அழகிய நிறமுடையவளே, என அவள் உரைத்தாள்।
Īśvara (Śiva) as narrator (continued)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Implied interlocutor(s); the vocative ‘varavarṇini’ suggests addressing a revered feminine listener within the frame (not fully specified here)
Scene: Sarasvatī radiates, lighting the world; behind her flows/appears Gaṅgā as a following goddess/river-personification, suggesting a moving confluence of knowledge and purification.
FAQs
Holy rivers are divine persons; their companionship signifies the unity of tīrthas and the spread of sanctity.
Prabhāsakṣetra, where the river-goddess traditions converge in the māhātmya narrative.
None explicitly; the verse supports the tīrtha-idea that river presence itself sanctifies pilgrimage and snāna.