Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 69
मर्त्यलोके सुरश्रेष्ठ नष्टा धर्मक्रिया भृशम् । कामासक्तो यतो लोकस्तांबूलस्य च भक्षणात् । तस्मात्कुरु प्रसादं नो येनास्माकं क्रिया भवेत्
martyaloke suraśreṣṭha naṣṭā dharmakriyā bhṛśam | kāmāsakto yato lokastāṃbūlasya ca bhakṣaṇāt | tasmātkuru prasādaṃ no yenāsmākaṃ kriyā bhavet
«Ô meilleur des dieux, dans le monde des mortels les rites du dharma ont grandement péri, car les hommes, en mâchant le tāmbūla, se sont attachés au désir. Accorde-nous donc ta grâce, afin que nos rites et nos offrandes dus puissent de nouveau s’accomplir.»
Devagaṇas (the gods), addressing Pitāmaha (Brahmā)
Listener: Pārthiva (king)
Scene: Devas addressing Brahmā with folded hands, describing the human world’s fall; a symbolic vignette shows people chewing tāmbūla while yajña fires die out.
FAQs
Addiction to pleasure (kāma) erodes dharma and disrupts the yajña-based harmony between humans and devas.
No single tīrtha is highlighted in this line; it frames a moral-cosmic problem within the Mahātmya narrative.
Restoration of dharmakriyā—especially yajña-related rites and offerings—is implied as the needed remedy.