Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 45
कथिता पृच्छ्यते या ते मा ते भवतु विस्मयः । एषा गंगा महापुण्या त्रिषु लोकेषु विश्रुता
kathitā pṛcchyate yā te mā te bhavatu vismayaḥ | eṣā gaṃgā mahāpuṇyā triṣu lokeṣu viśrutā
اگرچہ اس کا بیان ہو چکا، پھر بھی تم پوچھتے ہو—اس پر تعجب نہ کرنا۔ یہ گنگا نہایت مقدس ہے، تینوں لوکوں میں مشہور۔
Sūta (addressing the listener in the frame narrative)
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (as archetypal identity applied here)
Type: river
Listener: A questioning sage/interlocutor
Scene: A narrator reassures the listener: ‘This is Gaṅgā’—the river shines with a celestial aura; three-world symbolism appears (heaven, earth, netherworld) acknowledging her renown.
FAQs
Repeated inquiry into sacred matters is welcomed; the holiness of Gaṅgā is affirmed as universally established.
Gaṅgā as a tīrtha-river, famed across the three worlds.
None explicitly; the verse is identificatory and laudatory.