Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 80
यैर्हृतानि च रत्नानि तथा शास्त्रांतराणि च । ते दरिद्राः प्रजायंते मूकाः खंजा विचक्षुषः । तेषां शास्त्र प्रदानेन इह सौख्यं प्रजायते
yairhṛtāni ca ratnāni tathā śāstrāṃtarāṇi ca | te daridrāḥ prajāyaṃte mūkāḥ khaṃjā vicakṣuṣaḥ | teṣāṃ śāstra pradānena iha saukhyaṃ prajāyate
Ceux qui ont dérobé des joyaux, et aussi des livres de science sacrée, naissent pauvres, muets, boiteux et la vue altérée. Mais en offrant les Écritures, le bonheur naît pour eux ici, en ce monde.
Bhīṣma (contextual, in the Bhīṣma–Yudhiṣṭhira instruction sequence)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A thief snatches a jewel casket and palm-leaf manuscripts; the next panel shows the same soul reborn poor and impaired; finally, a redeemed figure offers scriptures to a teacher in a temple courtyard, light returning to the scene.
FAQs
Misuse and theft of wealth and knowledge bring crippling consequences; restoration through dharmic giving—especially śāstra-dāna—is upheld as a corrective path.
The chapter context is the Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya (Nāgara-khaṇḍa), though this verse focuses on ethical causality and remedial charity.
Śāstra-pradāna (donation of scriptures/learned texts) is prescribed as a means to generate well-being and counter prior wrongdoing.
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