Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 1
स्कंद उवाच । जगज्जनन्याः पार्वत्याः पुरोगस्ते पुरारिणा । यथाख्यायि कथा पुण्या तथा ते कथयाम्यहम्
skaṃda uvāca | jagajjananyāḥ pārvatyāḥ purogaste purāriṇā | yathākhyāyi kathā puṇyā tathā te kathayāmyaham
Skanda nói: Trước mặt Pārvatī, Mẹ của muôn loài, câu chuyện công đức mà kẻ diệt Tripura (Śiva) đã từng thuật cho Agastya thuở trước—ta nay cũng sẽ kể lại cho ngươi đúng như thế.
Skanda (explicit)
Tirtha: Kāśī (contextual; new section begins)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya (and by extension the audience)
Scene: Skanda speaking as a youthful divine teacher; Agastya seated with folded hands; Śiva and Pārvatī in the background as the original source scene, shown like a ‘flashback’ vignette; a luminous thread connecting the three, symbolizing transmission of puṇya-kathā.
FAQs
Sacred knowledge is preserved through faithful transmission; hearing a puṇya-kathā is itself dharma and a purifier.
The verse sets the narrative frame in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa; the specific tīrtha focus is introduced in the subsequent verses of the chapter.
Implicitly, śravaṇa (devout listening) of the purāṇic kathā is endorsed as spiritually fruitful.