Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 24
किमर्थं कुरुषे चौर्यं त्वं विप्रोऽसि सुनिर्घृणः । किं जितो व्यसनै रौद्रैः किं वा व्याधद्विजो भवान्
kimarthaṃ kuruṣe cauryaṃ tvaṃ vipro'si sunirghṛṇaḥ | kiṃ jito vyasanai raudraiḥ kiṃ vā vyādhadvijo bhavān
„Warum begehst du Diebstahl? Du bist ein Brāhmaṇa und doch völlig ohne Mitgefühl. Bist du von wilden Lastern besiegt worden? Oder bist du zu einem ‘Jäger-Brāhmaṇa’ geworden, einem Brāhmaṇa, der von der Grausamkeit des Jägers lebt?“
Unspecified within the snippet (likely a righteous admonisher addressing a fallen brāhmaṇa in the Tīrthamāhātmya narrative)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Lohajaṃgha / Malimluca (the questioned figure; narrative indicates an identity to be clarified)
Scene: Sages sternly question a brāhmaṇa turned thief; their faces show compassion mixed with righteous indignation, while the accused stands tense and ashamed.
FAQs
It condemns theft and cruelty, warning that uncontrolled vices can make even a brāhmaṇa fall into hunter-like, adharma-driven conduct; true dharma requires compassion and self-restraint.
This verse occurs within the Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya (Adhyāya 124), but the specific tīrtha name is not stated in the single-verse excerpt provided.
No direct ritual (snāna, dāna, japa, vrata) is prescribed in this verse; it functions as ethical admonition within a tīrtha-centered narrative.