Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 20
मत्वा कलियुगं रौद्रं बहुपापं वरानने । नान्येन तरते दुर्गां कर्मणा दुर्गतिं नरः
matvā kaliyugaṃ raudraṃ bahupāpaṃ varānane | nānyena tarate durgāṃ karmaṇā durgatiṃ naraḥ
Sabiendo que el Kali-yuga es feroz y colmado de muchos pecados, oh de bello rostro, el hombre no puede cruzar este duro trance—este destino miserable nacido del karma—por ningún otro medio.
Śiva (addressing Devī; 'varānane')
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (implied)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Varānanā (addressed ‘O lovely-faced one’; likely a female interlocutor within the narrative frame)
Scene: A contrast scene: dark, turbulent Kali-yuga with people burdened by chains labeled ‘karma’, and a luminous path leading to the Somanātha shrine at Prabhāsa, suggesting refuge through divine grace rather than mere worldly striving.
FAQs
In the Kali age, ordinary karmic striving tends toward hardship; one needs a higher salvific support—implied here as the kṣetra’s deity-centered refuge.
The surrounding context is Prabhāsa Kṣetra and Someśvara worship as the implied means of crossing Kali-yuga’s dangers.
No explicit ritual is named in this verse; it sets the theological premise that ordinary means are insufficient, preparing for the kṣetra-based remedy.