Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 78
स्वामिंस्तव कुलेप्येवं गूथाशोधनकर्मकृत् । तदस्माकं न चान्यस्य तत्किमन्यः प्रवेशितः
svāmiṃstava kulepyevaṃ gūthāśodhanakarmakṛt | tadasmākaṃ na cānyasya tatkimanyaḥ praveśitaḥ
„O Herr, selbst in deiner eigenen Linie gibt es einen, der die Arbeit des Reinigens von Unrat verrichtet. Diese Aufgabe gehört uns und keinem anderen—warum also wurde ein anderer hereingebracht, um sie zu übernehmen?“
An antyaja/caṇḍāla (low-born attendant) addressing a superior (likely the king)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis/Brāhmaṇas
Scene: The caṇḍāla speaks with controlled grievance, pointing to the ‘filth-cleaning’ duty and questioning why another has been inserted; the listener is a master/kingly-dvija figure.
FAQs
Attachment to status and entitlement over “assigned” duties can harden into anger; Purāṇic narratives often expose such pride as a cause of downfall.
This verse is embedded in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya context, but the snippet itself focuses on a moral-narrative conflict rather than naming a tīrtha explicitly.
No direct ritual (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it refers to a menial duty (śodhana/cleaning) within the story.