Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 59
व्याघ्रस्य कामरूपस्य दातव्यं जीवितं मया । तेनाहं शपथैर्मुक्ता कारणात्तव पुत्रक
vyāghrasya kāmarūpasya dātavyaṃ jīvitaṃ mayā | tenāhaṃ śapathairmuktā kāraṇāttava putraka
कामरूप धारण करने वाले व्याघ्र को मुझे अपना जीवन अर्पित करना है। इसी कारण, पुत्रक, मैं शपथ के बंधन से (उसे निभाकर ही) मुक्त होती हूँ।
Mother (unnamed)
Listener: Vatsa
Scene: Kapilā reveals the stark obligation: she must give her life to a shape-shifting tiger; the atmosphere tightens, with the forest looming as a moral arena.
FAQs
Truthfulness and vow-keeping are treated as binding dharma, even at the cost of one’s own life.
The broader setting is Arbudakhaṇḍa (Arbuda/Mount Abu sacred region); this specific verse emphasizes narrative dharma rather than a named tīrtha.
None; the verse centers on the moral force of śapatha (solemn oath).
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