Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 11
ब्राह्मण उवाच । नाहं तत्र गमिष्यामि दिष्ट्या प्राप्तोस्मि तेंऽतिकम् । वांछमानः सदा मृत्युं दारिद्र्येण कदर्थितः
brāhmaṇa uvāca | nāhaṃ tatra gamiṣyāmi diṣṭyā prāptosmi teṃ'tikam | vāṃchamānaḥ sadā mṛtyuṃ dāridryeṇa kadarthitaḥ
Le brāhmane dit : « Je ne retournerai pas là-bas. Par heureuse fortune, je suis parvenu jusqu’à ta présence. Écrasé par la pauvreté, j’ai toujours désiré la mort. »
Brāhmaṇa (the long-lived, impoverished Gokarṇa brought by mistake)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Dharmarāja (Yama)
Scene: A destitute brāhmaṇa, emaciated and grief-stricken, stands before a majestic, austere Dharmarāja; the contrast of human fragility and cosmic law is central.
FAQs
Purāṇic narratives acknowledge worldly suffering: poverty can crush the mind, yet the episode frames even despair within a larger moral-cosmic order overseen by dharma.
The story originates in Mathurā, though this verse itself is spoken in Yama’s presence, emphasizing the moral drama rather than a specific tīrtha act.
None; it is a personal declaration of refusal to return and a confession of suffering due to poverty.