Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 59
भेत्ता तडागकूपानां संक्रमाणांरसस्य च । एकपंक्तिस्थितानां च पाकभेदं करोति यः
bhettā taḍāgakūpānāṃ saṃkramāṇāṃrasasya ca | ekapaṃktisthitānāṃ ca pākabhedaṃ karoti yaḥ
Wer Teiche und Brunnen zerstört oder beschädigt, öffentliche Übergänge und Wasseranlagen stört, oder bei einer gemeinsamen Mahlzeit in einer Reihe durch Trennung von Kochgut und Speiseanteilen Unterscheidung schafft—ein solcher wird verurteilt.
Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa) to the sages (deduced)
Type: kund/ghat (generic waterworks and crossings)
Listener: Interlocutor within Kaumārikākhaṇḍa
Scene: A civic-religious scene: pilgrims at a tank/stepwell and a river crossing; a villain damages a well or blocks a causeway; beside it, a communal meal line where a disruptor tries to separate cooking pots—contrasted with dharmic volunteers repairing and serving equally.
FAQs
Protecting shared resources and honoring social fairness are forms of dharma; harming them is a serious moral fault.
No specific tīrtha is named, but the verse strongly implies reverence for water-reservoirs and crossings associated with pilgrimage.
It prescribes not to damage water facilities and not to create discriminatory divisions in communal meals.