Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 47
नर उवाच । न जाने पितरौ स्वीयौ नष्टौ वा सर्वथा न हि । एवमेवापि पश्यामि सर्वदाऽहं स एव च
nara uvāca | na jāne pitarau svīyau naṣṭau vā sarvathā na hi | evamevāpi paśyāmi sarvadā'haṃ sa eva ca
The man said: “I do not know my own parents, nor do I know whether they are utterly lost. I see only this: I am always the same, and so too is my condition.”
A certain man (nara)
Listener: Kālabhīti (contextual interlocutor in the passage)
Scene: A weary traveler/man speaks in self-disclosure, admitting he does not know his parents and feels trapped in an unchanging condition; the setting suggests a roadside rest or hermitage threshold where hospitality is being negotiated.
FAQs
The text dramatizes the tension between social identity and dharmic eligibility in acts of giving.
Not specified in this verse.
No new ritual is prescribed; it continues the inquiry about whether a gift may be accepted.