Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 9
अतः कृच्छ्रं गतः सर्वो लोकः क्षुत्परिपीडितः । चामुंडासदृशो जातो यो न मृत्युवशंगतः
ataḥ kṛcchraṃ gataḥ sarvo lokaḥ kṣutparipīḍitaḥ | cāmuṃḍāsadṛśo jāto yo na mṛtyuvaśaṃgataḥ
Darum geriet das ganze Volk in schwere Not, vom Hunger gequält; wer noch nicht unter die Gewalt des Todes geraten war, wurde ausgemergelt wie eine lebendige Cāmuṇḍā.
Sūta (narrator)
Scene: Starving townspeople with hollow cheeks and protruding ribs, carrying empty bowls; a haunting comparison to Cāmuṇḍā—skeletal, fierce—evoked as a metaphor of living death.
FAQs
Worldly security is fragile; collective suffering drives beings toward refuge in dharma, devotion, and sacred means of purification and restoration.
No tīrtha is named in this verse; it intensifies the crisis that will be resolved through the power of the tīrtha narrative.
None; it is a descriptive verse portraying famine and mortality.