Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 78
स्वामिंस्तव कुलेप्येवं गूथाशोधनकर्मकृत् । तदस्माकं न चान्यस्य तत्किमन्यः प्रवेशितः
svāmiṃstava kulepyevaṃ gūthāśodhanakarmakṛt | tadasmākaṃ na cānyasya tatkimanyaḥ praveśitaḥ
« Ô maître, même dans ta propre lignée, il est quelqu’un qui accomplit l’œuvre de nettoyer les souillures. Cette tâche est la nôtre et non celle d’un autre — pourquoi donc en a-t-on fait entrer un autre pour s’en charger ? »
An antyaja/caṇḍāla (low-born attendant) addressing a superior (likely the king)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis/Brāhmaṇas
Scene: The caṇḍāla speaks with controlled grievance, pointing to the ‘filth-cleaning’ duty and questioning why another has been inserted; the listener is a master/kingly-dvija figure.
FAQs
Attachment to status and entitlement over “assigned” duties can harden into anger; Purāṇic narratives often expose such pride as a cause of downfall.
This verse is embedded in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya context, but the snippet itself focuses on a moral-narrative conflict rather than naming a tīrtha explicitly.
No direct ritual (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it refers to a menial duty (śodhana/cleaning) within the story.