Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 3
द्वारपालाश्च के तत्र कः पूर्वं कश्च पृष्ठतः । पुरीयं सर्वतो दैत्य तिष्ठते केन पालिता
dvārapālāśca ke tatra kaḥ pūrvaṃ kaśca pṛṣṭhataḥ | purīyaṃ sarvato daitya tiṣṭhate kena pālitā
“وہاں دروازوں کے نگہبان کون ہیں؟ آگے کون کھڑا ہے اور پیچھے کون؟ اے دَیتی، یہ پوری نگری چاروں طرف سے کس کے ذریعے محفوظ ہے؟”
Unspecified (a questioner addressing a Daitya; likely interlocutor in the Prahlāda dialogue context)
Tirtha: Dvārakā
Type: kshetra
Listener: Prahlāda
Scene: Sages gesture toward an imagined city-plan, asking who stands at the front/back and who guards each side of Dvārakā’s gates.
FAQs
Holy places are upheld by divine order—protection and sanctity are maintained by appointed guardians, not merely by human power.
Dvārakā, the sacred city of Keśava/Kṛṣṇa, presented in the Dvārakā Māhātmya of the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa.
None directly; the verse introduces an inquiry that leads into instructions about worship of the gate-guardians.