Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 78
स्वं वृषं तु परित्यक्त्वा परेण तु वृषायते । वृषली सा तु विज्ञेया न शूद्री वृषली भवेत्
svaṃ vṛṣaṃ tu parityaktvā pareṇa tu vṛṣāyate | vṛṣalī sā tu vijñeyā na śūdrī vṛṣalī bhavet
Wer den eigenen Gatten verlässt und einen anderen als ihren „Stier“ (Gefährten) annimmt, soll als vṛṣalī erkannt werden; eine Śūdra-Frau ist nicht allein durch Geburt eine vṛṣalī.
Skanda (deduced from Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya narrative style)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Householders/pilgrims (implied)
Scene: A moral allegory: a woman turning away from her rightful husband toward another man, while a narrator/ācārya points to a dharma-scale indicating ‘conduct’ as the deciding factor; a separate respectful depiction of a Śūdra household shows that birth alone is not condemned.
FAQs
The verse shifts emphasis from birth to conduct, teaching that dharma-violating behavior creates ritual/ethical disqualification.
Prabhāsa-kṣetra remains the contextual holy landscape, where dharma is taught as the support of tīrtha-merit.
An implied rule for ritual contexts: eligibility is affected by conduct; one should avoid dharma-breaching associations during rites.