Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 49
जीवहीनो यथा देहः क्षणादशुचितां व्रजेत् । भर्तृहीना तथा योषित्सुस्नाताप्यशुचिः सदा
jīvahīno yathā dehaḥ kṣaṇādaśucitāṃ vrajet | bhartṛhīnā tathā yoṣitsusnātāpyaśuciḥ sadā
Wie ein lebloser Körper in einem Augenblick unrein wird, so gilt auch eine Frau ohne Gatten stets als unrein, selbst wenn sie sich gründlich gebadet hat.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: A didactic scene in Kāśī: a teacher expounds śauca-aśauca using the metaphor of a lifeless body; Gaṅgā ghāṭa and cremation smoke in the background to underscore impurity/purification themes.
FAQs
It uses purity imagery to stress the text’s ideal of marital centrality within social-religious order.
No specific tīrtha is named; the teaching sits within Kāśī Khaṇḍa’s sacred milieu.
It references bathing (snāna) but does not prescribe a ritual; it asserts a normative purity status.