Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 49
य इंद्र कृमिरेव स्यात्कृमिरंद्रो हि जायते । तस्माद्दानात्परतरं नान्यदस्तीह मोचनम्
ya iṃdra kṛmireva syātkṛmiraṃdro hi jāyate | tasmāddānātparataraṃ nānyadastīha mocanam
Selbst ein Indra kann zu einem bloßen Wurm werden, und aus einem Wurm kann ein „Herr unter Würmern“ geboren werden. Darum gibt es in dieser Welt keine höhere Erlösung als dāna, das heilige Geben.
Lomaharṣaṇa (Sūta), speaking to the sages (deduced from Māheśvarakhaṇḍa narrative style)
Tirtha: Kedāra-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: brāhmaṇas (vipra)
Scene: Striking metamorphosis motif: a crowned Indra figure fading into a small worm; beside it, a worm rising to a ‘lord among worms’—a visual of karmic inversion; rishi points to dāna as the remedy.
FAQs
Worldly rank is unstable; dāna is praised as a supreme means of inner release and purification.
The teaching occurs within Kedārakhaṇḍa, associated with Kedāra/Kedarnath’s Śaiva sacred geography.
Dāna (charity) is upheld as the foremost salvific practice here.