Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 63
रुज्यर्धं च तदर्धं च पथि चौरादि बाधिते । तदर्धं योषितां चापि सुस्थे न्यूनं न कारयेत्
rujyardhaṃ ca tadardhaṃ ca pathi caurādi bādhite | tadardhaṃ yoṣitāṃ cāpi susthe nyūnaṃ na kārayet
Cuando se está enfermo, o cuando se ha perdido siquiera la mitad de la capacidad, o cuando se viaja y se sufre por ladrones y similares, puede observarse sólo la mitad (de lo habitual). También para las mujeres se permite la mitad; pero estando sano, no debe hacerse menos de lo prescrito.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly as Skanda teaching Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Scene: A Kāśī pilgrim on a dusty road, guarded and wary of thieves, pauses to perform a shortened rite; nearby a healer tends the sick; a calm priest indicates ‘half-measure’ with a measuring cord, while the Viśvanātha temple spire rises in the distance.
FAQs
Dharma is firm in principle yet compassionate in application—allowing reductions when circumstances genuinely obstruct observance.
The setting is the Kāśī Khaṇḍa (Varanasi’s sacred framework), though this verse itself gives general dharma-vidhi rather than naming a single tīrtha.
A rule of permitted reduction: perform half of the prescribed observance in illness or perilous travel; do not reduce when healthy.