Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 78
शची प्रहस्य चोवाच बृहस्पतिमकल्मषम् । असौ न परिपूर्णो हि यज्ञैः शक्रासने स्थितः । एकोनमश्वमेधानां शतं कृतमनेन वै
śacī prahasya covāca bṛhaspatimakalmaṣam | asau na paripūrṇo hi yajñaiḥ śakrāsane sthitaḥ | ekonamaśvamedhānāṃ śataṃ kṛtamanena vai
Śacī, souriante, dit à l’irréprochable Bṛhaspati : «Bien qu’il siège sur le trône de Śakra (Indra), il n’est pas encore pleinement accompli par le mérite des sacrifices. En vérité, il a célébré cent Aśvamedha, mais il en manque un.»
Śacī (Indrāṇī)
Listener: Interlocutor in Kedāra-kathā frame (not explicit)
Scene: Śacī smiles knowingly while addressing Bṛhaspati; behind her, symbolic imagery of a hundred horse-sacrifice emblems with one missing, indicating Nahuṣa’s ‘one-less-than-hundred’ Aśvamedhas.
FAQs
Ritual achievement alone does not guarantee rightful authority; completeness in dharma is more than numerical sacrifice-counts.
The Kedārakhaṇḍa setting frames the teaching, but this verse itself highlights a moral-ritual criterion, not a particular tīrtha.
Aśvamedha (horse-sacrifice) is referenced as a measure of ritual merit; no direct instruction to perform it is given here.