Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 87
कृपणानां प्रसादेन शेषो धारयते महीम् । यतस्ते भूगतं वित्तं कुर्वते तस्य चोष्मणा
kṛpaṇānāṃ prasādena śeṣo dhārayate mahīm | yataste bhūgataṃ vittaṃ kurvate tasya coṣmaṇā
Durch die ‘Gunst’ der Geizigen trägt Śeṣa die Erde—denn sie zwingen ihr Vermögen in den Boden hinab, und die Erde wird auch von der ‘Wärme’ dieses vergrabenen Schatzes erwärmt.
Narrator (context: Maṇibhadra-upākhyāna; explicit speaker not marked in this verse)
Type: kshetra
Scene: Ananta-Śeṣa beneath the earth, many-hooded, bearing Bhū-devī; above, misers bury pots of gold, and the earth glows faintly—comic cosmic linkage between buried treasure and ‘warming’ the earth.
FAQs
Even cosmic imagery is used to condemn hoarding: burying wealth is a burden on the earth; dharma prefers wealth offered in charity and sacred works.
The verse belongs to the Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya stream within Nāgara Khaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya.
No explicit rite; the ethical prescription is to avoid kṛpaṇatā (miserliness) and practice dāna.