Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 15
श्रेष्ठा गावः पशूनां च यथा पद्मसमुद्भव । विप्राणामिह सर्वेषां तथा श्रेष्ठा हि नागराः
śreṣṭhā gāvaḥ paśūnāṃ ca yathā padmasamudbhava | viprāṇāmiha sarveṣāṃ tathā śreṣṭhā hi nāgarāḥ
O Lotosgeborener (Brahmā), wie die Kuh unter den Tieren die vornehmste ist, so sind auch unter allen Brahmanen hier die Nāgara-Brahmanen wahrlich die vorzüglichsten.
Madhyaga (contextual continuation)
Tirtha: Nāgara-kṣetra (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Brahmā (addressed as Padma-samudbhava)
Scene: A speaker addresses Brahmā (‘Padma-samudbhava’) with an analogy: cows among animals, Nāgaras among brāhmaṇas; Brahmā seated or standing with lotus iconography; cows subtly included as symbolic vignette.
FAQs
Dharma is protected by honoring exemplary brāhmaṇas; in a kṣetra, their precedence is portrayed as a pillar of ritual and sanctity.
The verse supports the tīrtha-māhātmya of the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, with the broader adhyāya later anchoring the setting in Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra.
Implicitly, it points toward proper deference and ritual priority to Nāgara brāhmaṇas, though no single rite is named in this line.
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