Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 29
प्रायश्चित्तं मम स्वामिन्देहि सर्वमशेषतः । यन्नरस्य समायोगे परस्याह प्रजापतिः
prāyaścittaṃ mama svāmindehi sarvamaśeṣataḥ | yannarasya samāyoge parasyāha prajāpatiḥ
«O mein Herr, gewähre mir die Sühne (prāyaścitta) ganz und ohne Rest, wie Prajāpati sie für den verkündet hat, der sich in unziemlicher Verbindung mit der Gattin eines anderen vereint.»
The woman/petitioner (addressing Gautama Ṛṣi)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A direct plea: the woman, hands folded, addresses Gautama as ‘svāmin’, requesting full atonement; the scene is didactic—teacher and supplicant—framed by hermitage austerity.
FAQs
Dharma is upheld by acknowledging wrongdoing and seeking a complete, tradition-rooted prāyaścitta rather than minimizing the fault.
Not a single site is named in this verse; it frames the ethical need for purification that will be fulfilled through vows and tīrtha-journeying.
The verse requests prāyaścitta generally and cites Prajāpati’s rule; the specific rites are enumerated by Gautama in the following verses.