Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 51
यदा त्वं क्रूरबुद्धिं तं राक्षसं निहनिष्यसि । तदा त्वं लप्स्यसे मोक्षं राक्षसत्वात्सुदारुणात्
yadā tvaṃ krūrabuddhiṃ taṃ rākṣasaṃ nihaniṣyasi | tadā tvaṃ lapsyase mokṣaṃ rākṣasatvātsudāruṇāt
«Lorsque tu abattras ce rākṣasa à l’intention cruelle, alors tu atteindras la délivrance (mokṣa), libéré de cet état de rākṣasa si terriblement redoutable.»
Unspecified (same advising voice addressing the king)
Type: kshetra
Listener: the king (addressed as tvam)
Scene: A prophetic instruction: ‘When you slay that cruel-minded rākṣasa, you will attain mokṣa, freed from dreadful rākṣasa-hood’—a stark linkage of heroic action and transcendence.
FAQs
Liberation is linked with the cessation of cruelty—ending adharma becomes the doorway to release from degraded states.
The verse is within a tīrtha-mahātmya context, but this line itself does not identify the site.
No ritual is prescribed; the ‘act’ described is the removal of a cruel rākṣasa as a karmic turning point.