Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 19
यदर्थेन महाराज पृष्टोस्माभिर्यतो भवान् । तस्मान्नो दक्षिणां देहि संदेहघ्नां तपोत्तम
yadarthena mahārāja pṛṣṭosmābhiryato bhavān | tasmānno dakṣiṇāṃ dehi saṃdehaghnāṃ tapottama
Wahai Mahārāja, karena untuk maksud inilah kami menanyai paduka, maka anugerahkanlah kepada kami dakṣiṇā yang melenyapkan keraguan, wahai yang utama di antara para pertapa.
Brāhmaṇas
Scene: Brāhmaṇas respectfully requesting from the king not wealth but a doubt-destroying dakṣiṇā—symbolized as a scroll of dharma or a lamp of knowledge.
FAQs
The highest ‘dakṣiṇā’ is not wealth but knowledge that removes doubt and establishes dharma.
The verse belongs to a Tīrthamāhātmya context, but this line alone does not identify the tīrtha by name.
It redefines dakṣiṇā as a request for doubt-destroying guidance (upadeśa), rather than material payment.