Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 76
रात्रावब्जेषु संकोचो दर्शेष्वब्जः क्वचिद्व्रजेत् । क्षीरोदे मंदरत्रासात्तदत्राध्युषितामिव
rātrāvabjeṣu saṃkoco darśeṣvabjaḥ kvacidvrajet | kṣīrode maṃdaratrāsāttadatrādhyuṣitāmiva
Như hoa sen khép lại trong đêm và lúc rạng đông đôi khi lại thấy một đóa sen hé nở, nàng cũng hiện ra như thể đã ngự tại đây—tựa Lakṣmī nơi Biển Sữa sau nỗi kinh sợ do núi Mandara (ngọn núi khuấy biển) gây nên.
Skanda (deduced for Kāśīkhaṇḍa context)
Tirtha: Kolāpura (Mahālakṣmī-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and other sages (typical frame; not explicit here)
Scene: A serene dawn scene: lotuses that had closed at night begin to open; the Goddess’s presence is suggested rather than overt—an aura like Lakṣmī after the churning of the Milk-Ocean, with Mandara’s shadow as a remembered tremor.
FAQs
Purāṇic imagery ties cosmic myth to sacred place: the same Lakṣmī of the Milk-Ocean is experienced as present in the tīrtha.
The Kāśīkhaṇḍa setting where Mahālakṣmī is envisioned as residing, linked symbolically to the Milk-Ocean mythos.
No explicit ritual; the verse uses lotus-time imagery and mythic allusion to establish sanctity.