Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 8
शयानो मैथुनासक्तः स्तनपो व्याधिपीडितः । न हंतव्यो मृगो राजन्मृगी च शिशुना वृता
śayāno maithunāsaktaḥ stanapo vyādhipīḍitaḥ | na haṃtavyo mṛgo rājanmṛgī ca śiśunā vṛtā
“O King, a deer should not be killed when it is lying down, when it is engaged in mating, when it is still suckling, or when it is afflicted by disease; nor should a doe be slain when she is accompanied by her fawn.”
Mṛgī (the doe)
Tirtha: Arbuda-kṣetra (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Scene: The doe enumerates prohibitions like a dharma-śāstra: scenes implied—deer lying down, mating pair, fawn suckling, sick deer, and a doe with her fawn—contrasted with the king’s poised arrow.
FAQs
Dharma restrains power: even a king must avoid cruelty, especially toward the vulnerable (the sick, mating animals, and mothers with young).
The Arbuda (Mount Abu) sacred region in the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa’s Arbuda-khaṇḍa, where moral transgression triggers immediate karmic consequence.
No ritual is prescribed here; it gives an ethical injunction (ahiṃsā and restraint) relevant to kṣatriya conduct.