Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 34
तथा खाद्यानि लेह्यानि चोष्याणि च विशेषतः । पिता तव कथं सोऽद्य कषायाणि कटूनि च । भक्षयिष्यति दत्तानि स्वहस्तेन मया विभो
tathā khādyāni lehyāni coṣyāṇi ca viśeṣataḥ | pitā tava kathaṃ so'dya kaṣāyāṇi kaṭūni ca | bhakṣayiṣyati dattāni svahastena mayā vibho
وكذلك ألوانٌ من الطعام: ما يُمضَغ وما يُلعَق وما يُمصّ، على وجه الخصوص. يا مولاي، كيف سيأكل أبوك اليوم ما هو قابضٌ وحارٌّ لاذع، وقد قدّمته أنا بيديّ؟
Unspecified female speaker within the narrative (context suggests Sītā speaking to Rāma)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A domestic forest/pilgrimage camp scene: a devoted woman offers assorted foods (chewable, lickable, suckable) with worried expression, questioning how an elder (Rāma’s father) could eat pungent/astringent items offered by her own hand.
FAQs
Reverence toward elders and carefulness in service (seva) are dharmic virtues, heightened in a tīrtha setting where spiritual realities are near.
The verse occurs within Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya, but the named tīrtha is not present in the provided lines.
No formal rite is prescribed; it references the giving of food by one’s own hand as an act of service.