Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 4
पौंड्रको वासुदेवस्तु वाराणस्यां पुराऽभवत् । तेन श्रुतं पुराणं तु पठ्यमानं द्विजातिभिः
pauṃḍrako vāsudevastu vārāṇasyāṃ purā'bhavat | tena śrutaṃ purāṇaṃ tu paṭhyamānaṃ dvijātibhiḥ
久远以前，旁陀罗迦·婆苏提婆（Pauṇḍraka Vāsudeva）住在波罗奈（Vārāṇasī）。他在那里听见由二次生者（dvija）诵读的一部《往世书》（Purāṇa）。
Īśvara (Śiva) (narrating)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) as narrative locus; Prabhāsa as the overarching frame
Type: kshetra
Scene: In ancient Vārāṇasī, brahmins recite a Purāṇa in a sabhā; Pauṇḍraka listens, intrigued, with royal attendants behind him; the city’s ghats and temples form the backdrop.
FAQs
Purāṇic recitation is a public dharma-institution; what one hears can shape belief—rightly through humility or wrongly through delusion.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī) is referenced as a place where Purāṇas are recited by the learned.
The practice implied is Purāṇa-śravaṇa—listening to sacred recitation by dvijātis.