Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 144
सशल्यं ये प्रकुर्वंति वासरं केशव प्रियम् । तेषां पितामहाः स्वर्गात्प्रेतत्वं यांति पुत्रक
saśalyaṃ ye prakurvaṃti vāsaraṃ keśava priyam | teṣāṃ pitāmahāḥ svargātpretatvaṃ yāṃti putraka
„Wer den Keśava lieben Tag in befleckter Weise, mit śalya, begeht—durch sie fallen sogar ihre Großväter aus dem Himmel herab und gelangen in den Zustand der Pretas, o Sohn.“
Pretāḥ (departed spirits)
Tirtha: Dvārakā
Type: kshetra
Listener: Candraśarman (addressed as ‘putraka’)
Scene: Pretas deliver a stern warning: a tainted Dvādaśī observance causes even grandfathers to fall from heaven into preta-hood; imagery contrasts a luminous svarga scene collapsing into shadowy preta forms, with Keśava’s day symbolized by a bright calendrical disc pierced by a thorn.
FAQs
Improper religious practice can harm not only the practitioner but also the ancestral line, as dharma is intergenerational.
The verse is within Dvārakā Māhātmya; the remedy is later tied to Gomati and Dvārakā.
A warning: do not perform Keśava’s sacred observance-day ‘saśalya’ (with defect/impurity).