Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 18
चतुर्दशानां भूर्लोके वासो वः पालनं तथा । अयमेव श्मशानस्थो भविता श्वा च वाहनम्
caturdaśānāṃ bhūrloke vāso vaḥ pālanaṃ tathā | ayameva śmaśānastho bhavitā śvā ca vāhanam
“Para sa labing-apat sa inyo, ang tirahan at pagbabantay ay sa ibabaw ng lupa. Ang isang ito’y mananatili sa pook ng pagsusunog ng bangkay, at ang aso ang magiging sasakyan niyang vahana.”
Bāla-Maheśvara (Śiva in child form)
Tirtha: Śmaśāna (archetypal)
Type: ghat
Scene: Rudra assigns fourteen guardians to earth; one is fixed in the cremation-ground, marked by a dog as his vehicle—an emblem of fierce, vigilant boundary-keeping.
FAQs
Even liminal spaces like the cremation-ground fall under divine protection; nothing is outside dharma’s guardianship.
No named site; the śmaśāna is presented as a sacredly-guarded locus within Śaiva cosmology.
None explicitly; it establishes the guardian’s iconography (dog as vāhana) and station (śmaśāna).