Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 16
अविद्यां यः प्रयच्छेत बलीवर्दो भवेद्धि सः । अन्नं पर्युषितं विप्रे ददानः क्लीबतां व्रजेत्
avidyāṃ yaḥ prayaccheta balīvardo bhaveddhi saḥ | annaṃ paryuṣitaṃ vipre dadānaḥ klībatāṃ vrajet
Celui qui dispense l’ignorance devient, en vérité, un bœuf. Et, ô brāhmane, celui qui offre à un brāhmaṇa une nourriture rance tombe dans l’impuissance.
Sūta (deduced)
Tirtha: Revā (Narmadā) tīrtha sphere (contextual)
Type: river
Listener: vipra addressed in-verse (vocative ‘vipre’) suggesting instruction to a brāhmaṇa interlocutor
Scene: A teacher deliberately handing a dark, cloud-like scroll labeled ‘avidyā’ to a student, with an ox symbol looming as karmic result; a donor offering stale food to a brāhmaṇa, with the donor’s vitality fading as a symbolic consequence.
FAQs
Teaching wrongly and giving disrespectfully are both violations of dharma; knowledge and charity must be pure in intent and quality.
No tīrtha is named; the focus is on dharma of teaching and dāna within the Revā Khaṇḍa.
It implies standards for dāna—do not offer stale food to a brāhmaṇa; give fitting, fresh, respectful offerings.