Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 52
षण्ढं तु ब्राह्मणं हत्वा शूद्रहत्याव्रतं चरेत् । बहूनामेककार्याणां सर्वेषां शस्त्रधारिणाम्
ṣaṇḍhaṃ tu brāhmaṇaṃ hatvā śūdrahatyāvrataṃ caret | bahūnāmekakāryāṇāṃ sarveṣāṃ śastradhāriṇām
কিন্তু যদি কোনো ষণ্ঢ (নপুংসক) ব্ৰাহ্মণক বধ কৰে, তেন্তে শূদ্ৰহত্যাৰ বাবে বিধান কৰা প্ৰায়শ্চিত্ত-ব্ৰত পালন কৰিব। আৰু একে কাৰ্যত বহুজন যুক্ত থাকিলে, সকলো অস্ত্ৰধাৰী হ’লে (দায়িত্ব সৰ্বসাধাৰণভাৱে ভাগ হয়)।
Īśvara (Śiva) (contextual attribution within Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A cautionary tableau: armed men engaged in a joint violent act; a dharma-teacher points to a palm-leaf text indicating shared culpability; in a contrasting panel, penitents perform austerity and offer dāna at a tīrtha.
FAQs
Actions carry graded consequences, and dharma-text style expiations are prescribed; collective wrongdoing can create collective accountability.
The teaching occurs within the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya, whose later verses highlight the purifying Sarasvatī at Prabhāsa.
The verse prescribes a specific ‘vrata’ (expiatory observance) aligned with śūdra-hatyā for this case.