Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 57
तथा धर्मक्रियाः सर्वा मानुषाणामुदाहृताः । न प्रेतानां न देवानां नान्येषां मानुषं विना
tathā dharmakriyāḥ sarvā mānuṣāṇāmudāhṛtāḥ | na pretānāṃ na devānāṃ nānyeṣāṃ mānuṣaṃ vinā
Demikian pula, segala laku dharma dinyatakan milik manusia. Bukan bagi preta, bukan bagi para dewa, bukan pula bagi yang lain—hanya kelahiran sebagai manusia menjadi ladang tindakan dharmika.
Māṃsāda
Listener: nṛpa (king)
Scene: A calm instructional tableau: the teacher enumerates beings—humans, pretas, devas—emphasizing that dharma-kriyā belongs to human embodiment; symbolic icons (human figure holding mala, preta as faint shadow, deva as radiant) appear as didactic emblems.
FAQs
Human life is uniquely empowered for dharma and liberation-oriented action; it should not be wasted.
No specific site is named; the verse provides a universal dharma principle often used to motivate tīrtha-yātrā and righteous practice.
Implicitly, it points to dharma-kriyā (rites, duties, vows) as human responsibilities, but it does not specify a particular ritual.