Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 70
मृकण्ड उवाच । मृत्युनाऽलिंगितं बालमस्मदीयं मुनीश्वराः । भवद्भिरद्य संरक्ष्य कुलं कृत्स्नं समुद्धृतम्
mṛkaṇḍa uvāca | mṛtyunā'liṃgitaṃ bālamasmadīyaṃ munīśvarāḥ | bhavadbhiradya saṃrakṣya kulaṃ kṛtsnaṃ samuddhṛtam
مِرکنڈ نے کہا: “اے مُنیوں کے سردارو! موت نے میرے بچے کو پہلے ہی اپنی آغوش میں لے لیا تھا؛ مگر آج تمہاری حفاظت سے میرا پورا خاندان نجات پا کر سربلند ہو گیا۔”
Mṛkaṇḍa
Type: kshetra
Listener: Munīśvarāḥ (the sages)
Scene: Mṛkaṇḍa speaks with folded hands, pointing to the child as if newly reclaimed from Yama’s embrace; sages stand as protectors, forming a protective circle.
FAQs
Gratitude (kṛtajñatā) and recognition that divine-sage protection can overturn even the grasp of Death.
Within Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya context, the narrative leads toward the establishment of a Pitāmaha-related tīrtha later called Bālasakhya/Bālasakhya-tīrtha.
No direct ritual is prescribed in this verse; it sets up the motive of gratitude that culminates in deity installation and worship in subsequent verses.