Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 29
मनसा गच्छ दुर्गाणि ददद्दानमनुत्तमम् । नश्येत्तेनाशुभं किंचिदपि ब्रह्मवधोद्भवम् । यन्न याति नृणां राजंस्तीर्थस्नानादिना भुवि
manasā gaccha durgāṇi dadaddānamanuttamam | naśyettenāśubhaṃ kiṃcidapi brahmavadhodbhavam | yanna yāti nṛṇāṃ rājaṃstīrthasnānādinā bhuvi
O Hari, magtungo—kahit sa matibay na pasiya lamang—sa mga banal na pook na mahirap marating at malalayo, at magbigay ng walang kapantay na kaloob. Sa pamamagitan nito, mawawala ang bawat bahid ng kasawian—maging yaong bunga ng pagpatay sa brāhmaṇa; isang paglilinis na hindi nakakamit ng tao sa lupa sa pagligo sa tīrtha at mga katulad nito lamang.
Pulastya (deduced from adjoining verse context)
Tirtha: Durgama-tīrthas (generic), within Prabhāsa-ādi circuit
Type: kshetra
Listener: The king (rājan)
Scene: The king traverses rugged terrain—forests, mountains, deserts—approaching remote shrines and rivers; he offers gifts to brāhmaṇas and the poor; a dark cloud labeled ‘brahmahatyā’ dissolves as he gives and perseveres.
FAQs
Purification is intensified when pilgrimage is joined with extraordinary charity and sincere resolve, surpassing ritual alone.
No single tīrtha is isolated; the verse broadens the praise to arduous tīrthas generally, within the Arbuda pilgrimage narrative.
Dāna (generous giving) alongside tīrtha-yātrā; the verse contrasts this with “tīrtha-snānādi” (bathing and related rites) when done without that fuller discipline.