Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 78
स्वं वृषं तु परित्यक्त्वा परेण तु वृषायते । वृषली सा तु विज्ञेया न शूद्री वृषली भवेत्
svaṃ vṛṣaṃ tu parityaktvā pareṇa tu vṛṣāyate | vṛṣalī sā tu vijñeyā na śūdrī vṛṣalī bhavet
المرأة التي تترك زوجها وتَتَّخِذُ رجلاً آخر «ثورًا» (قرينًا) تُعرَفُ بأنها vṛṣalī؛ أمّا المرأة الشودرية فلا تُعَدُّ vṛṣalī لمجرّد المولد وحده.
Skanda (deduced from Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya narrative style)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Householders/pilgrims (implied)
Scene: A moral allegory: a woman turning away from her rightful husband toward another man, while a narrator/ācārya points to a dharma-scale indicating ‘conduct’ as the deciding factor; a separate respectful depiction of a Śūdra household shows that birth alone is not condemned.
FAQs
The verse shifts emphasis from birth to conduct, teaching that dharma-violating behavior creates ritual/ethical disqualification.
Prabhāsa-kṣetra remains the contextual holy landscape, where dharma is taught as the support of tīrtha-merit.
An implied rule for ritual contexts: eligibility is affected by conduct; one should avoid dharma-breaching associations during rites.