Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 23
गजशीर्षैरगम्यास्ते निहताः क्षत्रिया रणे । स होमो यत्र हूयंते गजाश्च नरपुंगवाः
gajaśīrṣairagamyāste nihatāḥ kṣatriyā raṇe | sa homo yatra hūyaṃte gajāśca narapuṃgavāḥ
Ces kṣatriyas, tués au combat, gisent en des lieux rendus impraticables par des têtes d’éléphants. «Voilà le homa», où l’on offre au feu (de la guerre) les éléphants et les plus éminents des hommes.
Nārada
Tirtha: Vastrāpatha-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Naimiṣāraṇya sages (frame)
Scene: A battlefield choked with elephant heads; fallen kṣatriyas lie beyond reach. The ‘homa’ is imagined as bodies and beasts offered into an unseen conflagration of conflict.
FAQs
Sacred metaphors can be dangerously misapplied; true yajña elevates, while war’s ‘offering’ is a sign of moral and mental disturbance.
The passage sits within the Vastrāpathakṣetra Māhātmya of Prabhāsa, part of the region’s larger sacred narrative framework.
Homa is referenced, but used metaphorically as an inversion—equating battlefield death with an ‘offering.’