Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 64
शंख उवाच । यद्येवं चौर्यदोषोऽस्ति मम तात महत्तरः । निग्रहं कुरु मे शीघ्रं येन न स्यात्तपःक्षयः
śaṃkha uvāca | yadyevaṃ cauryadoṣo'sti mama tāta mahattaraḥ | nigrahaṃ kuru me śīghraṃ yena na syāttapaḥkṣayaḥ
Śaṃkha sprach: Wenn in mir eine solche Schuld des Diebstahls ist, o Vater, und sie sehr groß ist—so zügle und bestrafe mich schnell, damit meine Askese (tapas) nicht verzehrt werde.
Śaṃkha
Listener: (contextual) frame listener(s); within episode, Śaṃkha speaks to his father
Scene: Śaṃkha, anxious yet resolute, addresses his father with folded hands; his posture shows urgency and humility, requesting immediate restraint to save his austerity.
FAQs
True repentance is proactive: one asks for correction so that spiritual merit (tapas) is protected from the corrosion of sin.
Not named in this verse; it sets up the later movement toward Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra for purification and spiritual fulfillment.
Immediate nigraha (disciplinary correction) as a form of prāyaścitta is requested.