Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 54
केवलं क्षीयते लोको नैव वृद्धिं प्रगच्छति । स्वेदजा येऽपि जीवाः स्युस्तेपि याताः परिक्षयम्
kevalaṃ kṣīyate loko naiva vṛddhiṃ pragacchati | svedajā ye'pi jīvāḥ syustepi yātāḥ parikṣayam
„Die Welt schwand nur dahin und gelangte zu keinerlei Wachstum. Selbst die aus Schweiß geborenen Wesen gingen dem völligen Verfall entgegen.“
Sūta (continuing narration)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Brahmin audience
Scene: A panoramic depiction of a diminishing world: fewer people, empty cradles, drying ponds, insects and small svedaja life fading—an eerie stillness of non-growth.
FAQs
When cosmic harmony is broken, life declines across all categories; restoration requires re-establishing dharmic order.
Not named in this verse; it describes the widespread effects that motivate divine intervention in the tīrtha narrative.
None; it is descriptive of decline rather than prescriptive of practice.