Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 86
विचक्षण द्रुतं गत्वा मदर्थे तां तपस्विनीम् । सामभेदप्रदानेन दंडेनापि समानय
vicakṣaṇa drutaṃ gatvā madarthe tāṃ tapasvinīm | sāmabhedapradānena daṃḍenāpi samānaya
“Vicakṣaṇa, go quickly and, for my sake, bring that ascetic woman—by conciliation, by sowing division, by gifts, and even by force if needed.”
Mahiṣa (in Pulastya’s narration)
Tirtha: Arbuda (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Vicakṣaṇa (messenger)
Scene: A demon king issuing a harsh directive to his envoy: use persuasion, sow discord, offer gifts, or force—depicting escalating coercion.
FAQs
Adharma often escalates from persuasion to coercion; the Purāṇas portray such intent as morally corrupt and spiritually ruinous.
The episode unfolds in the Arbuda sacred region (Arbuda Parvata) described in the Skanda Purāṇa.
None; the verse uses political/strategic categories (sāma, bheda, dāna, daṇḍa) as narrative devices, not ritual instructions.