Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 39
पुरा कलिंगविषये द्विजो लवणविक्रयी । संध्यास्नानविहीनश्च वेदाक्षरविवर्जितः
purā kaliṃgaviṣaye dvijo lavaṇavikrayī | saṃdhyāsnānavihīnaśca vedākṣaravivarjitaḥ
Formerly, in the land of Kaliṅga, there lived a twice-born man who made his living by selling salt. He was devoid of the daily sandhyā worship and ritual bathing, and he had abandoned even the recitation of Vedic syllables.
Maheśvara (Śiva) (continuing narration)
Listener: Viṣṇu
Scene: A poor dvija in Kaliṅga selling salt in a marketplace, outwardly marked by sacred thread yet inwardly neglecting sandhyā and Vedic recitation; a moral contrast between external sign and inner practice.
FAQs
Birth-status without daily dharma (sandhyā, snāna, Vedic study) becomes spiritually hollow; conduct, not label, safeguards merit.
No single tīrtha is named in this verse; it functions as moral background within the Kāśī-khaṇḍa’s larger sacred-geography teaching.
Sandhyā observance and regular snāna (ritual bathing), along with Vedic recitation/study, are highlighted by contrast as neglected duties.