Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 17
गां पंकाद्ब्राह्मणीं दास्यात्साधून्स्तेनाद्द्विजं वधात् । मोचयन्ति च ये राजन्न ते नरकगामिनः
gāṃ paṃkādbrāhmaṇīṃ dāsyātsādhūnstenāddvijaṃ vadhāt | mocayanti ca ye rājanna te narakagāminaḥ
O König, wer eine Kuh aus dem Schlamm rettet, eine Brahmanin aus der Knechtschaft befreit, Heilige vor einem Dieb schützt und einen Dvija vor dem Schlachten bewahrt, ist nicht zur Hölle bestimmt.
Bhīṣma (to Yudhiṣṭhira)
Tirtha: Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra (ethical upāya within māhātmya)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Yudhiṣṭhira (addressed as rājan)
Scene: A righteous protector rescues a cow stuck in mud, frees a brāhmaṇa woman from bondage, shields sādhus from a thief, and prevents the killing of a dvija—four vignettes forming a moral tableau before a listening king.
FAQs
Active compassion—saving beings from immediate danger and oppression—is upheld as a high form of dharma with immense purifying power.
No single tīrtha is named; the verse emphasizes dharmic rescue-actions within the broader tīrthamāhātmya discourse.
Not a ritual, but prescribed dharma: rescuing a cow, a brāhmaṇī, sādhus, and a dvija from peril (mire, slavery, theft, slaughter).