Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 63
रुज्यर्धं च तदर्धं च पथि चौरादि बाधिते । तदर्धं योषितां चापि सुस्थे न्यूनं न कारयेत्
rujyardhaṃ ca tadardhaṃ ca pathi caurādi bādhite | tadardhaṃ yoṣitāṃ cāpi susthe nyūnaṃ na kārayet
Wenn man krank ist, oder wenn auch nur die Hälfte der Kraft fehlt, oder wenn man auf dem Weg von Dieben und dergleichen bedrängt wird, darf man nur die Hälfte (der üblichen Übung) verrichten. Auch für Frauen ist die Hälfte erlaubt; doch wer gesund ist, soll nicht weniger tun als vorgeschrieben.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly as Skanda teaching Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Scene: A Kāśī pilgrim on a dusty road, guarded and wary of thieves, pauses to perform a shortened rite; nearby a healer tends the sick; a calm priest indicates ‘half-measure’ with a measuring cord, while the Viśvanātha temple spire rises in the distance.
FAQs
Dharma is firm in principle yet compassionate in application—allowing reductions when circumstances genuinely obstruct observance.
The setting is the Kāśī Khaṇḍa (Varanasi’s sacred framework), though this verse itself gives general dharma-vidhi rather than naming a single tīrtha.
A rule of permitted reduction: perform half of the prescribed observance in illness or perilous travel; do not reduce when healthy.