Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 79
जागृतस्तु तदा काल एकाकी धर्मवत्सलः । अश्रौषीच्च क्षणे तस्मिन्रामो नारीविरोदनम्
jāgṛtastu tadā kāla ekākī dharmavatsalaḥ | aśrauṣīcca kṣaṇe tasminrāmo nārīvirodanam
Éveillé à cette heure-là, seul et dévoué au dharma, Rāma entendit, à l’instant même, les sanglots d’une femme.
Narratorial voice (Purāṇic narrator; speaker not explicit in this snippet)
Type: riverbank (tīra)
Scene: Midnight on the riverbank: Rāma awake, alert and solitary, hearing a distant woman’s wail; his posture shifts from rest to readiness.
FAQs
Dharma includes alert compassion—one who loves dharma responds to the suffering of others, even in solitude.
The riverbank within Dharmāraṇya forms the sacred backdrop where a moral test and compassionate action begin.
No ritual is prescribed; the focus is ethical dharma—attentiveness to cries of distress and readiness to act.