Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 55
अनाशके जलेऽग्नौ तु ये मृता व्याधिपीडिताः । अनिवर्तिका गतिस्तेषां रुद्रलोके ह्यसंशयम्
anāśake jale'gnau tu ye mṛtā vyādhipīḍitāḥ | anivartikā gatisteṣāṃ rudraloke hyasaṃśayam
Ceux qui, tourmentés par la maladie, y meurent là—sans nourriture, dans l’eau ou dans le feu—ont une destinée irrévocable : ils atteignent le monde de Rudra, sans aucun doute.
Unknown (context suggests a Purāṇic narrator addressing a king)
Tirtha: Rudraghaṭa (Revā-tīrtha)
Type: ghat
Listener: A king (nṛpa)
Scene: A compassionate yet awe-filled scene: a sick devotee at the riverbank, attended by family and priests, with Śiva’s presence symbolically guiding the departing soul upward toward Rudra-loka; elements of water and sacrificial fire appear as symbolic modes of death mentioned in the verse.
FAQs
In a supremely sanctified place, even painful or extreme forms of death are transformed into liberation-oriented destiny under Rudra’s grace.
The same Revā tīrtha being praised in Adhyāya 172, associated with Śiva/Rudra and the nearby Śiva-kṣetra.
No positive rite is commanded; the verse describes the tīrtha’s salvific effect in cases of fasting-death, death in water, or death in fire.