Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 39
भवंति च तथा नूनं वृथा भस्महुतं यथा । अरण्ये रुदितानीव ऊषरे वापितानि च
bhavaṃti ca tathā nūnaṃ vṛthā bhasmahutaṃ yathā | araṇye ruditānīva ūṣare vāpitāni ca
Ils deviennent assurément vains : comme une offrande versée sur des cendres, comme des pleurs dans la forêt, et comme des semences jetées en une terre stérile.
Unspecified in snippet (didactic voice continuing prior statement)
Scene: A didactic tableau of three similes: oblation poured onto cold ash, a lone figure weeping unheard in a dense forest, and seeds scattered on cracked saline earth—symbolizing wasted effort.
FAQs
Merit depends on proper dharmic alignment; otherwise even ‘religious’ effort becomes as useless as wasted offerings or barren sowing.
None is named in this verse; it uses universal imagery to stress the point.
It alludes to oblation (huta) but gives no specific ritual instruction—only the warning about futility.