Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 25
ततः प्रोक्तो मया रामः स्पृशेमां वत्स पाणिना । मानुषत्वं लभेद्येन गौतमस्य प्रिया मुनेः । शापदोषेण संजाता शिलेयं तस्य सन्मुनेः
tataḥ prokto mayā rāmaḥ spṛśemāṃ vatsa pāṇinā | mānuṣatvaṃ labhedyena gautamasya priyā muneḥ | śāpadoṣeṇa saṃjātā śileyaṃ tasya sanmuneḥ
تب میں نے رام سے کہا: “اے پیارے بچے، اپنے ہاتھ سے اس پتھر کو چھو؛ اسی سے مُنی گوتم کی محبوبہ زوجہ پھر انسانیت پا لے گی۔ لعنت کے عیب سے وہ اس نیک رِشی کی یہ شِلا بن گئی ہے۔”
Ṛṣi narrator (first-person), instructing Rāma
Tirtha: Ahalyā-vimocana-sthāna (implied)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Rāma (addressed as vatsa)
Scene: The sage gently instructs young Rāma to touch the stone; Ahalyā’s stone form is prominent; Lakṣmaṇa watches; the hermitage radiates quiet sanctity as the moment of release approaches.
FAQs
Compassionate action guided by dharma becomes a channel for liberation; divine touch dispels the bondage of past wrongdoing.
Gautama’s hermitage is the sacred setting connected with Ahalyā’s redemption; the verse itself does not provide a named tīrtha.
A single, symbolic act is prescribed: the righteous touch (sparśa) by Rāma as a liberating, purifying intervention.