Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 25
ब्रह्महत्यासमुत्थेन पातकेन ततश्च ते । जाता निस्तेजसः सर्वे प्रपतंति धरातले
brahmahatyāsamutthena pātakena tataśca te | jātā nistejasaḥ sarve prapataṃti dharātale
Alors, par le péché issu de la brahma-hatyā (le meurtre d’un brāhmaṇa), tous furent privés d’éclat et tombèrent à terre.
Deductive attribution: Purāṇic narrator (didactic turn emphasizing pāpa and its effects)
Type: kshetra
Scene: Warriors suddenly lose their inner glow; their bodies slacken; weapons slip; they collapse onto the earth as an unseen moral force—brahma-hatyā-pātaka—overtakes them, turning victory into ruin.
FAQs
Grave sin (mahāpātaka), especially brahma-hatyā, destroys tejas (spiritual and worldly potency) and leads to downfall—hence the need for repentance and purification.
The verse itself names no tīrtha, but within Tīrthamāhātmya it supports the doctrine that sacred places (notably the Narmadā stream later referenced) purify severe sin.
No direct prescription here; it establishes the karmic condition that later tīrtha-related acts (snāna, dāna, japa) are meant to remedy.