Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 4
सूत उवाच । नाना तीर्थानि लोकेऽस्मिन्येषां संख्या न विद्यते । तिस्रः कोट्योऽर्द्धकोटिश्च तेषां संख्या कृता पुरा
sūta uvāca | nānā tīrthāni loke'sminyeṣāṃ saṃkhyā na vidyate | tisraḥ koṭyo'rddhakoṭiśca teṣāṃ saṃkhyā kṛtā purā
Sūta thưa: Trong thế gian này có vô số tīrtha, thật khó biết trọn số. Nhưng thuở xưa người ta từng nói con số là ba crores và thêm nửa crore nữa.
Sūta
Listener: Ṛṣis (assembly at a śrauta/purāṇic recitation setting)
Scene: Sūta addresses assembled sages, evoking an immense map-like vision of countless tīrthas across Bhārata, with symbolic rivers, mountains, and shrines appearing as a sacred panorama.
FAQs
The sacred landscape is vast beyond easy measure; the Purāṇa frames pilgrimage as an expansive, world-encompassing field of merit.
No single site; the verse broadly introduces the immense multitude of tīrthas before detailing particular ones.
No direct ritual is prescribed; it sets context for tīrtha-focused practices (yātrā, snāna, dāna) that typically follow in māhātmya sections.