Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 20
क्षुरपृष्ठे च गन्धर्वा वेदाश्चत्वार एव च । मुखाग्रे सर्वतीर्थानि स्थावराणि चराणि च
kṣurapṛṣṭhe ca gandharvā vedāścatvāra eva ca | mukhāgre sarvatīrthāni sthāvarāṇi carāṇi ca
اس کی استرے جیسی تیز پشت پر گندھرو اور چاروں وید قائم ہیں؛ اور اس کے دہن کے اگلے حصے میں سب تیرتھ ٹھہرے ہیں—ساکن اور متحرک، دونوں جہانوں کے۔
Narrator (contextual; likely Vyāsa continuing the account within the dialogue frame)
Tirtha: Sarva-tīrtha-nivāsa (at Surabhī’s mukha-agra)
Type: sangam
Listener: King (Rājan)
Scene: Surabhī’s back gleams like a sharp ridge (kṣura-pṛṣṭha), with Gandharvas poised as celestial musicians along her spine; the four Vedas appear as four luminous manuscripts/emanations; at her mouth-front, a mandala of many tīrthas—rivers, ghats, springs—miniaturized and orbiting.
FAQs
All sacred knowledge and pilgrimage-merit are envisioned as concentrated in a divine principle, linking Veda and tīrtha into one sacred body.
The verse praises the idea of ‘all tīrthas’ (sarvatīrtha) collectively rather than a single named location.
No explicit ritual is stated; the verse establishes a theological basis for tīrtha-reverence and Vedic sanctity.