Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 68
तेषां मध्यस्थितश्चैकस्त्रिजातो ब्राह्मणाधमः । तेन तद्दूषितं द्रव्यं समग्रं होमसंभवम्
teṣāṃ madhyasthitaścaikastrijāto brāhmaṇādhamaḥ | tena taddūṣitaṃ dravyaṃ samagraṃ homasaṃbhavam
“তাদের মধ্যস্থলে একজন আছে—ত্রিজাত, ব্রাহ্মণদের মধ্যে অধম; তার কারণেই হোমের জন্য প্রস্তুত সমগ্র দ্রব্য কলুষিত হয়েছে।”
Vahni (Agni)
Type: kshetra
Listener: dvijottamāḥ (Brahmins)
Scene: Agni reveals a troubling figure among the sixteen—one marked as unworthy—standing amid the circle; the offerings and ladles appear shadowed/tainted, smoke turning dark to signify defilement.
FAQs
Ritual efficacy depends on purity of conduct and qualification; a single adharmic element can corrupt a collective rite.
The verse is embedded in a tīrtha-māhātmya chapter but is primarily about ritual integrity, not a named site.
An implicit requirement: ensure qualified, pure participants and undefiled materials in homa; remove the contaminating agent.