Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 17
येऽबांधवा बांधवा वा येऽन्यजन्मनि बांधवाः । येपि चाज्ञातनामानो ये चापुत्राः स्वगोत्रजाः
ye'bāṃdhavā bāṃdhavā vā ye'nyajanmani bāṃdhavāḥ | yepi cājñātanāmāno ye cāputrāḥ svagotrajāḥ
তারা অবন্ধু হোক বা বন্ধু, কিংবা অন্য জন্মে বন্ধু ছিল; যাদের নাম অজ্ঞাত, এবং নিজ গোত্রের যারা পুত্রহীন হয়ে প্রয়াত—তারাও (এখানে) অন্তর্ভুক্ত।
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra (implied)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Frame audience (ṛṣis/pilgrims)
Scene: A compassionate rite on Kāśī’s ghats: a devotee offers water and piṇḍa with a broad saṅkalpa, while faint ancestral silhouettes—known and unknown, sonless and forgotten—gather to receive.
FAQs
Ancestral duty is inclusive and humane: one should extend offerings beyond known names and immediate family, embracing forgotten and unsupported souls.
The verse belongs to the Kāśīkhaṇḍa’s Gaṅgā-centered pitṛkarman discussion, highlighting the spiritual reach of rites done at this tīrtha.
During tarpaṇa/śrāddha, explicitly include unknown-named departed, sonless members of one’s gotra, and even non-relatives or past-life relations.