Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 23
प्रत्यब्दमश्वमेधेन शतं वर्षाणि यो यजेत् । अमांसभक्षको यश्च तयोरंत्यो विशिष्यते
pratyabdamaśvamedhena śataṃ varṣāṇi yo yajet | amāṃsabhakṣako yaśca tayoraṃtyo viśiṣyate
Selbst wenn jemand hundert Jahre lang jedes Jahr ein Aśvamedha vollzöge, ist von den beiden derjenige erhabener, der kein Fleisch isst.
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: A contrast tableau: on one side a royal Aśvamedha with priests, horse, and sacrificial pavilion; on the other a serene ascetic/householder offering grains and water, hands in compassion, with Kāśī’s ghāṭs and Viśvanātha spire in the background—signifying inner purity surpassing spectacle.
FAQs
Ahiṃsā expressed through restraint can outweigh even grand ritual merit; inner ethics surpass external grandeur.
The verse appears in the Kāśīkhaṇḍa (Kāśī setting) but does not directly praise a particular tīrtha.
It references Aśvamedha as a benchmark and implicitly commends abstaining from meat as a superior dharmic practice.