Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 115
नित्यं प्रेषणकर्तॄणां यत्पापं मधुजीविनाम् । तन्मे स्याद्यदि नो हन्मि सर्पं दृष्टिवशं गतम्
nityaṃ preṣaṇakartṝṇāṃ yatpāpaṃ madhujīvinām | tanme syādyadi no hanmi sarpaṃ dṛṣṭivaśaṃ gatam
Wenn ich die Schlange, die unter die Macht meines Blickes geraten ist, nicht töte, so möge die Sünde derer, die ständig andere auf Botengänge schicken, und derer, die vom Honig leben, auf mich fallen.
Unspecified narrator within Nāgara-khaṇḍa Tīrtha-māhātmya (deductively: Sūta relating a tale/dialogue)
Type: kshetra
Scene: The speaker reiterates the vow: if he fails to kill the gaze-subdued serpent, he accepts the sins of those who habitually dispatch others on errands and those who live by honey. The serpent remains pinned by an unwavering stare.
FAQs
It frames a fierce vow where the speaker threatens to accept grave sins upon himself unless he acts—showing how intention (saṅkalpa) and moral responsibility are dramatized in Purāṇic ethics.
The verse occurs within the Nāgara-khaṇḍa’s Tīrtha-māhātmya setting, but this single shloka does not name a specific tīrtha explicitly.
No explicit rite (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed here; it is a vow-like conditional statement tied to an intended act.