Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 33
अथ दृष्ट्वा महादेवः सतीं प्राणैर्विना स्थिताम् । अवमानात्तथाऽत्मानं त्यक्त्वा मत्वा कपालिनम्
atha dṛṣṭvā mahādevaḥ satīṃ prāṇairvinā sthitām | avamānāttathā'tmānaṃ tyaktvā matvā kapālinam
ثم إنّ مهاديڤا، إذ رأى ساتي راقدة بلا نَفَسٍ من الحياة، وأخذ الإهانة إلى قلبه، عدَّ نفسه «كابالين» حاملَ الجمجمة، وترك كلَّ اعتبارٍ مألوفٍ لذاته.
Narrator (Purāṇic narrator within Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Pilgrimage-inquirer audience (ṛṣi/kingly interlocutors typical of Māhātmya frame)
Scene: Mahādeva beholds Satī lifeless; his face shifts from stunned grief to terrible resolve, adopting the kapālin aspect—matted locks, ash-smeared body, skull-emblem—while the world darkens in sympathy.
FAQs
Insult to the sacred leads to cosmic rupture; Śiva’s fierce vow-forms arise to restore dharma when devotion is violated.
The broader glorification is of Prabhāsa-kṣetra via its Māhātmya, which situates major Shaiva events within its sacred narrative.
None directly; the verse signals Śiva’s transition to a fierce vow-aspect (Kapālin) in response to adharma.