Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 12
यदि चैनं मया मुक्तं कुठारं च द्विजोत्तमाः । ग्रहीष्यति परः कश्चिन्मम वध्यो भविष्यति
yadi cainaṃ mayā muktaṃ kuṭhāraṃ ca dvijottamāḥ | grahīṣyati paraḥ kaścinmama vadhyo bhaviṣyati
(Paraśurāma dit :) «Ô vous, les meilleurs des brāhmaṇas, si je lâche et abandonne cette hache, quelqu’un d’autre pourrait s’en emparer—et alors il deviendrait celui que je devrais mettre à mort.»
Paraśurāma (implied by first-person ‘mama’; responding to the sages)
Type: kshetra
Listener: kṣetravāsin sages (dvijottamāḥ)
Scene: Paraśurāma speaks with grave intensity, holding the axe but gesturing outward as if imagining another seizing it; sages listen, concerned, recognizing the ethical knot.
FAQs
It presents a dharmic tension: fear that relinquishing power may enable others’ wrongdoing, pulling one back into violence.
The statement occurs within the Adhyāya 94 tīrtha narrative of the Nāgarakhaṇḍa; the place’s sanctity is explained through this episode.
None directly; it is an ethical argument about the consequences of abandoning a weapon.