Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 20
ब्रह्मोवाच । यदि नाम मया सृष्टा यूयं दिष्ट्या विषोल्बणाः । अपराधं विना कस्माद्भक्षयध्व इमाः प्रजाः
brahmovāca | yadi nāma mayā sṛṣṭā yūyaṃ diṣṭyā viṣolbaṇāḥ | aparādhaṃ vinā kasmādbhakṣayadhva imāḥ prajāḥ
ব্ৰহ্মাই ক’লে: “যদি সঁচাকৈ মই তোমালোকক সৃষ্টি কৰিছোঁ, আৰু দিষ্টিৰ বশে তোমালোক বিষে তীব্ৰ—তেনে হ’লে কোনো অপৰাধ নথকাৰ সত্ত্বেও এই প্ৰজাসকলক কিয় ভক্ষণ কৰা?”
Brahmā
Scene: Brahmā responds with calm logic: ‘Even if I created you and you are poison-fierce by fate, why devour without offence?’ His hand gesture is instructive, not merely wrathful; nāgas listen subdued.
FAQs
Natural power is not a license for cruelty; dharma requires protection of the innocent.
No specific tīrtha is referenced in this verse; it supports the moral frame within the Tīrtha-māhātmya chapter.
None; the verse is a direct ethical interrogation by Brahmā.