Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 144
सशल्यं ये प्रकुर्वंति वासरं केशव प्रियम् । तेषां पितामहाः स्वर्गात्प्रेतत्वं यांति पुत्रक
saśalyaṃ ye prakurvaṃti vāsaraṃ keśava priyam | teṣāṃ pitāmahāḥ svargātpretatvaṃ yāṃti putraka
“Wahai anak, mereka yang menjalankan hari yang dicintai Keśava dengan cara yang ternoda (saśalya), karena mereka para kakek mereka pun jatuh dari surga dan menuju keadaan Preta.”
Pretāḥ (departed spirits)
Tirtha: Dvārakā
Type: kshetra
Listener: Candraśarman (addressed as ‘putraka’)
Scene: Pretas deliver a stern warning: a tainted Dvādaśī observance causes even grandfathers to fall from heaven into preta-hood; imagery contrasts a luminous svarga scene collapsing into shadowy preta forms, with Keśava’s day symbolized by a bright calendrical disc pierced by a thorn.
FAQs
Improper religious practice can harm not only the practitioner but also the ancestral line, as dharma is intergenerational.
The verse is within Dvārakā Māhātmya; the remedy is later tied to Gomati and Dvārakā.
A warning: do not perform Keśava’s sacred observance-day ‘saśalya’ (with defect/impurity).