Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 162
य एष त्वद्गृहे वोढा ह्यतिभारधुरंधरः । अनेन मित्रहननं पापं विश्वासघातनम्
ya eṣa tvadgṛhe voḍhā hyatibhāradhuraṃdharaḥ | anena mitrahananaṃ pāpaṃ viśvāsaghātanam
«Cette même bête de somme dans ta demeure, si apte à porter des fardeaux excessifs, a jadis commis le péché de tuer un ami : crime de trahison de la confiance.»
Mārkaṇḍeya (addressing a king, ‘rājan’ contextually)
Tirtha: Revā (Narmadā)
Type: river
Listener: Rājan
Scene: In a royal courtyard, a strong load-bearing animal stands tethered; the narrator reveals its hidden past: a shadow-scene overlays—two friends, one betrayed—contrasting present servitude with past treachery.
FAQs
Betrayal and violence against a friend are grave sins that bind the soul; karma follows even across births.
The verse is embedded in the Revā Khaṇḍa’s tīrtha-māhātmya setting (a sacred ford associated with the Revā/Narmadā tradition), though the specific tīrtha name is not stated in this single shloka.
No direct ritual is stated here; the verse introduces the karmic background that later connects to tīrtha-based purification.