Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 85
ब्रह्मघ्ने च सुरापे च स्तेये गुर्वङ्गनागमे । निष्कृतिर्विहिता शास्त्रे कृतघ्ने नास्ति निष्कृतिः
brahmaghne ca surāpe ca steye gurvaṅganāgame | niṣkṛtirvihitā śāstre kṛtaghne nāsti niṣkṛtiḥ
Pour le meurtrier d’un brāhmane, pour le buveur d’alcool, pour le voleur et pour celui qui outrage l’épouse du guru, l’Écriture prescrit une expiation; mais pour le traître ingrat, il n’est point d’expiation.
Munis (addressing Yamadūtas)
Tirtha: Revā (Narmadā) context (sectional)
Type: river
Scene: A solemn dharma-assembly: a sage or narrator enumerates grave sins; a dark figure labeled ‘kṛtaghna’ stands apart, symbolically unpurified even as other sinners approach a river for expiation.
FAQs
Ingratitude—harming one who trusted or helped you—is portrayed as a uniquely destructive sin, beyond ordinary expiations.
None is named in this verse; it is a dharma/prāyaścitta teaching within the Revā Khaṇḍa context.
It states that scriptures prescribe prāyaścitta for major sins like brahmahatyā, surāpāna, theft, and violating the guru’s wife, but denies prāyaścitta for kṛtaghna.