Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 2
अश्ववक्त्रां करिष्यामि तपसा सुशुभाननाम् । सा कथं विहिता तेन तपस्तप्तं तथा कथम् । सर्वं विस्तरतो ब्रूहि परं कौतूहलं हि नः
aśvavaktrāṃ kariṣyāmi tapasā suśubhānanām | sā kathaṃ vihitā tena tapastaptaṃ tathā katham | sarvaṃ vistarato brūhi paraṃ kautūhalaṃ hi naḥ
“ด้วยตบะเราจะทำให้นางผู้พักตร์งามนั้นมีพักตร์เป็นม้า”—เขาบัญญัติให้นางเป็นเช่นนั้นได้อย่างไร และตบะนั้นบำเพ็ญกันอย่างไร? ขอท่านกล่าวโดยพิสดารเถิด เพราะความใคร่รู้ของเรายิ่งนัก
Ṛṣis (continuing their question; quoted speech from the narrative being queried)
Scene: A questioning sage/visitor implores the narrator to explain how a lovely-faced woman became horse-faced through tapas and divine ordinance; the scene is intimate, dialogic, and charged with wonder.
FAQs
Austerity (tapas) and karmic outcomes are treated as precise moral causality deserving careful explanation.
Not explicit in this verse; it continues within the Śrīhāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya narrative frame.
Tapas (austerity) is the operative practice under discussion, though details are requested rather than prescribed here.