Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 57
तथा धर्मक्रियाः सर्वा मानुषाणामुदाहृताः । न प्रेतानां न देवानां नान्येषां मानुषं विना
tathā dharmakriyāḥ sarvā mānuṣāṇāmudāhṛtāḥ | na pretānāṃ na devānāṃ nānyeṣāṃ mānuṣaṃ vinā
তদ্ৰূপে ধৰ্মৰ সকলো ক্ৰিয়া মানুহৰ বাবেই ঘোষণা কৰা হৈছে। প্ৰেতৰ বাবে নহয়, দেৱতাৰ বাবে নহয়, আন কাৰো বাবে নহয়—মানৱদেহেই ধৰ্মক্ৰিয়াৰ ক্ষেত্ৰ।
Māṃsāda
Listener: nṛpa (king)
Scene: A calm instructional tableau: the teacher enumerates beings—humans, pretas, devas—emphasizing that dharma-kriyā belongs to human embodiment; symbolic icons (human figure holding mala, preta as faint shadow, deva as radiant) appear as didactic emblems.
FAQs
Human life is uniquely empowered for dharma and liberation-oriented action; it should not be wasted.
No specific site is named; the verse provides a universal dharma principle often used to motivate tīrtha-yātrā and righteous practice.
Implicitly, it points to dharma-kriyā (rites, duties, vows) as human responsibilities, but it does not specify a particular ritual.
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