Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 49
जीवहीनो यथा देहः क्षणादशुचितां व्रजेत् । भर्तृहीना तथा योषित्सुस्नाताप्यशुचिः सदा
jīvahīno yathā dehaḥ kṣaṇādaśucitāṃ vrajet | bhartṛhīnā tathā yoṣitsusnātāpyaśuciḥ sadā
Just as a body without life becomes impure in a moment, so too a woman without her husband is regarded as always impure, even if she has bathed well.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: A didactic scene in Kāśī: a teacher expounds śauca-aśauca using the metaphor of a lifeless body; Gaṅgā ghāṭa and cremation smoke in the background to underscore impurity/purification themes.
FAQs
It uses purity imagery to stress the text’s ideal of marital centrality within social-religious order.
No specific tīrtha is named; the teaching sits within Kāśī Khaṇḍa’s sacred milieu.
It references bathing (snāna) but does not prescribe a ritual; it asserts a normative purity status.