Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 11
अद्यैकाहं च संप्राप्ता कानने जनवर्जिते । पुत्रं बालं परित्यज्य गोपैर्गोष्ठे नियंत्रितम्
adyaikāhaṃ ca saṃprāptā kānane janavarjite | putraṃ bālaṃ parityajya gopairgoṣṭhe niyaṃtritam
„Heute bin ich allein in diesen menschenleeren Wald gekommen und habe mein junges Kind zurückgelassen, das von den Kuhhirten im Stall festgehalten wird.“
Nandinī (the cow) — inferred from immediate narrative flow
Type: kshetra
Listener: dvijottama (addressed brāhmaṇa listener)
Scene: Nandinī speaks aloud: she is alone today in a deserted forest, having left her young one confined in the cow-pen by cowherds; the emptiness of the woods amplifies her fear.
FAQs
Even amid fear and isolation, dharma is remembered through one’s obligations to dependents.
The shloka is part of a Tīrthamāhātmya chapter in Nāgarakhaṇḍa; the precise site is not named within this verse.
No direct ritual instruction appears; the verse provides narrative setting for a tīrtha-linked moral episode.