Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 31
केचिद्गङ्गाजले नष्टाः केचिन्नष्टाः सरस्वतीम् । केचिन्महोदधौ लीनाः प्रविष्टा विन्ध्यकन्दरे
kecidgaṅgājale naṣṭāḥ kecinnaṣṭāḥ sarasvatīm | kecinmahodadhau līnāḥ praviṣṭā vindhyakandare
کچھ گنگا کے جل میں غائب ہو گئے، کچھ سرسوتی میں ناپید ہوئے؛ کچھ مہاساگر میں جذب ہو گئے، اور کچھ وِندھیا پہاڑ کی غاروں میں داخل ہو گئے۔
Narrator (contextual; speaker not explicit in snippet)
Tirtha: Gaṅgā / Sarasvatī (as tīrtha refuges in the narrative)
Type: river
Scene: Multiple vignettes: serpentine beings slip beneath Gaṅgā’s ripples; others sink into Sarasvatī’s shimmering, half-hidden stream; some dissolve into a vast ocean horizon; others enter dark Vindhya caves framed by rugged cliffs.
FAQs
The verse maps a sacred landscape, implying that beings run across famed waters and mountains; yet sanctity is fulfilled by right conduct and devotion, not mere location.
Gaṅgā and Sarasvatī are invoked as sacred waters; Vindhya and the ocean appear as puranic refuges rather than explicit tīrtha-phala praise in this line.
None explicitly, though rivers like Gaṅgā and Sarasvatī commonly imply snāna (holy bathing) in broader puranic practice.