Skanda Purana
[3] The text has been an important historical record and influence on the Hindu traditions and rituals related to the war-god Skanda.
[8] The common elements in the variant editions encyclopedically cover cosmogony, mythology, genealogy, dharma, festivals, gemology, temples, geography, discussion of virtues and evil, of theology and of the nature and qualities of Shiva as the Absolute and the source of true knowledge.
[9] The editions of Skandapurana text also provide an encyclopedic travel handbook with meticulous Tirtha Mahatmya (pilgrimage tourist guides),[10] containing geographical locations of pilgrimage centers in India, Nepal and Tibet, with related legends, parables, hymns and stories.
Haraprasad Shastri and Cecil Bendall, in about 1898, discovered an old palm-leaf manuscript of Skanda Purana in a Kathmandu library in Nepal, written in Gupta script.
[5][18][19] Hans Bakker states that the text specifies holy places and details about the 4th and 5th-century Citraratha of Andhra Pradesh, and thus may have an earlier origin.
[20] The oldest versions of the Skandapurana texts have been discovered in the Himalayan region of South Asia such as Nepal, and the northeastern states of India such as Assam.
[5] Some of the mythology mentioned in the present version of the Skanda Purana is undoubtedly post-Gupta period, consistent with that of medieval South India.
[35] The manuscripts of several other texts which claim to be part of the Skanda Purāṇa are found partially or wholly.
[26] Kaverimahatmya presents stories and a pilgrim guide for the Kaveri river (Karnataka) and Coorg Tirtha region.
[14] The oldest known 1st-millennium palm-leaf manuscripts of this text mention many major Hindu pilgrimage sites, but do not describe Kailash-Manasarovar.
The central aim of the Skandapurana text, states Hans Bakker, is to sanctify the geography and landscape of South Asia, and legitimize the regional Shaiva communities across the land, as it existed at the time the edition was produced.
[36] The text reflects the political uncertainties, the competition with Vaishnavism, and the cultural developments with the Pashupata Hindus during the periods it was composed.
The Skanda Purana found in this manuscripts collection is written in transitional Gupta script, Sanskrit.
[38] The 1910 edition included seven khaṇḍas (parts): Maheśvara, Viṣṇu or Vaiṣṇava, Brahma, Kāśī, Āvantya, Nāgara and Prabhāsa.
