Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 14
मांडव्य उवाच । नान्यथा जायते वाणी या मयोक्ता सुरोत्तमाः । अवश्यं धर्मराजोऽयं शूद्रयोनौ प्रयास्यति
māṃḍavya uvāca | nānyathā jāyate vāṇī yā mayoktā surottamāḥ | avaśyaṃ dharmarājo'yaṃ śūdrayonau prayāsyati
Māṇḍavya dit : «Ô meilleurs des dieux, la parole que j’ai prononcée ne peut être autrement. Ce Dharmarāja entrera assurément dans un sein de Śūdra.»
Māṇḍavya
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devas
Scene: Māṇḍavya speaks with unyielding certainty; devas listen with concern; Dharmarāja stands accepting the decree. The visual focus is the moment of pronouncement—speech as thunderbolt.
FAQs
Truthful speech (satya-vāk) is portrayed as irrevocable and potent; even cosmic authorities are bound by the consequences of actions and words.
This is part of the Nāgara-khaṇḍa Tīrtha-māhātmya narrative setting that culminates in the sanctification and naming of the local tīrtha-feature Dīrghikā.
No direct ritual is prescribed here; the verse establishes the moral-legal inevitability of a pronounced utterance within dharma.