Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 22
छाया प्रकंपते यस्य देहबंधेपि निश्चले । कृतांतदूता बध्नंति चतुर्थे मासि तं नरम्
chāyā prakaṃpate yasya dehabaṃdhepi niścale | kṛtāṃtadūtā badhnaṃti caturthe māsi taṃ naram
If someone’s shadow trembles even when the body stands still, then the messengers of Kṛtānta (Death) bind that man in the fourth month.
Skanda
Tirtha: Avimukta-Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: At sunset on a Kāśī ghāṭa, a man stands still, yet his shadow on the steps quivers unnaturally; faint, dark figures of Kṛtānta’s messengers approach with nooses; a distant Śiva temple lamp glows, offering hope.
FAQs
It underscores accountability and the inevitability of death, urging timely spiritual effort and righteous conduct.
The verse belongs to Kāśīkhaṇḍa’s Kāśī setting; it does not glorify a particular ghāṭa or liṅga by name in this line.
No explicit ritual instruction is present; it is a nimitta statement.
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