Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 86
अर्थोष्मणा भवेत्प्राणो भवेद्भक्ष्यैर्विना नृणाम् । यतः संधार्यते भूमिः कृपणस्योष्मणा हि सा
arthoṣmaṇā bhavetprāṇo bhavedbhakṣyairvinā nṛṇām | yataḥ saṃdhāryate bhūmiḥ kṛpaṇasyoṣmaṇā hi sā
On dit que la vie de l’homme peut se maintenir par la « chaleur » de la richesse, même sans nourriture. Car la terre elle-même est comme « soutenue » par la chaleur du ladre, puisqu’il enfouit en elle ses biens.
Narrator (context: Maṇibhadra-upākhyāna; explicit speaker not marked in this verse)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A miser at night buries pots of coins in the earth; the ground is shown subtly glowing with ‘heat’, while the miser appears gaunt yet obsessed, ignoring food and family.
FAQs
Hoarding wealth is portrayed as an unnatural ‘heat’ that burdens the world; dharma urges wealth to circulate through righteous use and charity.
The teaching is embedded in the Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya narrative of the Nāgara Khaṇḍa.
No direct ritual is given; the implied corrective is dāna and dharmic expenditure rather than burying or hoarding riches.