Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 17
यस्माद्विरूपं मां दृष्ट्वा आत्मरूपेण गर्वितः । गमने दर्शने मह्यमहंकारः कृतो यतः । तस्मात्त्वं कुष्ठरोगेण न चिरेण ग्रसिष्यसे
yasmādvirūpaṃ māṃ dṛṣṭvā ātmarūpeṇa garvitaḥ | gamane darśane mahyamahaṃkāraḥ kṛto yataḥ | tasmāttvaṃ kuṣṭharogeṇa na cireṇa grasiṣyase
“Because, seeing me in an uncomely state, you became proud of your own appearance; and because, in your coming and in your very gaze toward me, you displayed arrogance—therefore you will soon be seized by the disease of leprosy.”
Durvāsā
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (Sāmbāditya narrative locus)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and sages (implied)
Scene: Durvāsā pronounces the curse with unwavering authority; Sāmba’s proud posture falters as the words ‘kuṣṭha-roga’ seal his fate. The scene is charged with moral gravity—speech becoming destiny.
FAQs
Ahaṃkāra (ego) expressed as mockery of holiness rebounds as suffering; reverence is itself a protective dharma.
The episode is embedded in Prabhāsa Kṣetra’s Māhātmya, later connecting to Sāmba’s redemptive worship associated with Sāmbāditya traditions.
No direct ritual is prescribed in this verse; it is the formal articulation of the curse that motivates later expiatory worship.