Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 68
मित्रवच्च भगस्त्वष्टा सहस्रेण शतेन च । उत्तरोपक्रमेऽर्कस्य वर्धन्ते रश्मयः सदा । दक्षिणोपक्रमे भूयो ह्रसन्ते सूर्यरश्मयः
mitravacca bhagastvaṣṭā sahasreṇa śatena ca | uttaropakrame'rkasya vardhante raśmayaḥ sadā | dakṣiṇopakrame bhūyo hrasante sūryaraśmayaḥ
مِتر، بھگ، تواشٹر اور دیگر—کل ایک ہزار ایک سو—سورج کی قوتیں ہیں۔ سورج کے اُترایَن میں اس کی کرنیں ہمیشہ بڑھتی رہتی ہیں؛ اور دکشنایَن میں سورج کی شعاعیں پھر گھٹ جاتی ہیں۔
Śiva (Īśvara)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa Kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Sāṃba / Yādava addressee (contextual)
Scene: A symbolic diagram-like scene: Sūrya’s orb with rays expanding during uttarāyaṇa and contracting during dakṣiṇāyana; attendant Ādityas (Mitra, Bhaga, Tvaṣṭṛ, etc.) arranged around the solar disc like a mandala.
FAQs
It links cosmic order to dharma: the Sun’s ordained courses symbolize a regulated universe where worship aligns human life with ṛta (sacred order).
Prabhāsa Kṣetra (Prabhāsatīrtha region), where Sūrya is praised in connection with Sāṃbāditya.
No direct ritual is prescribed here; the verse explains the Sun’s northern and southern courses as a sacred cosmological teaching.