Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 36
विष्णुरुवाच । देवदेवजगन्नाथ जगतां हितकृत्प्रभो । कीकसं चेत्पतेद्दैवाद्दुर्वृत्तस्य दुरात्मनः
viṣṇuruvāca | devadevajagannātha jagatāṃ hitakṛtprabho | kīkasaṃ cetpateddaivāddurvṛttasya durātmanaḥ
Viṣṇu dit : Ô Dieu des dieux, Seigneur de l’univers, bienfaiteur des mondes—ô Maître—, si, par le destin, l’os d’un homme de conduite mauvaise et d’esprit pervers venait à tomber (là)…
Viṣṇu
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (pāpa-hara jala)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śiva (addressed as Devadeva, Jagannātha)
Scene: Viṣṇu, in regal calm, addresses a supreme Lord (Śiva implied by Kāśī context) with folded hands; behind them, Gaṅgā flows, symbolizing the question’s setting.
FAQs
The verse introduces a dharma-question: how sacred context (Gaṅgā) interacts with the karma of a morally corrupt person.
The question presupposes Gaṅgā’s sanctity (continued from prior verses) within the Kāśī-khaṇḍa narrative.
No prescription—this is a theological inquiry about the consequence of a sinner’s bone/remains coming into the sacred setting.