Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 94
सत्यसन्ध उवाच । संन्यस्तोऽहं द्विजश्रेष्ठा वृत्तिं कर्तुं न च क्षमः । यदि मे स्यात्पुमान्कश्चिदन्वयेऽपि न संशयः
satyasandha uvāca | saṃnyasto'haṃ dvijaśreṣṭhā vṛttiṃ kartuṃ na ca kṣamaḥ | yadi me syātpumānkaścidanvaye'pi na saṃśayaḥ
Satyasaṃdha dit : «Ô le meilleur des deux-fois-nés, j’ai pris le renoncement et je ne suis plus capable de poursuivre un gagne-pain mondain. Si seulement il y avait un héritier mâle dans ma lignée, là-dessus il n’y a point de doute.»
Satyasaṃdha (the renounced king)
Listener: dvija-śreṣṭhas (brāhmaṇas)
Scene: A renounced king (or king-like figure) in simple ochre cloth speaks to brāhmaṇas, expressing inability to maintain livelihood and longing for a male heir; background shows a palace fading into an ascetic hut, symbolizing transition.
FAQs
Renunciation limits one’s worldly agency; dharma must be balanced with responsibility to lineage and society when one has held royal office.
Implicitly within the Śrīhāṭakeśvara-kṣetra-māhātmya narrative setting; the verse itself focuses on the king’s renunciant condition.
None directly; the verse addresses saṃnyāsa and the practical inability to maintain worldly affairs.