Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 71
ब्रह्मघ्ने च सुरापे च चौरे भग्नव्रते तथा । निष्कृतिर्विहिता सद्भिः कृतघ्ने नाऽस्ति निष्कृतिः
brahmaghne ca surāpe ca caure bhagnavrate tathā | niṣkṛtirvihitā sadbhiḥ kṛtaghne nā'sti niṣkṛtiḥ
「婆羅門を殺す者、酒に溺れる者、盗む者、また誓戒を破る者には、善き人々が贖罪を定めた。だが恩を忘れる者には、贖いは存在しない。」
Mṛkaṇḍa (contextual continuation)
Listener: Munīśvarāḥ / audience of sages
Scene: A didactic tableau: a sage or Mṛkaṇḍa speaks solemnly; symbolic figures representing the listed sins stand in shadow, while an ungrateful figure is shown isolated, with no path of purification depicted.
FAQs
Ingratitude is portrayed as a uniquely corrosive fault—worse than sins that have formal expiations—because it denies dharma at its root.
The verse supports the tīrtha narrative by motivating a grateful act (pratiṣṭhā and worship) tied to the local sacred place later named for the child’s friendship (Bālasakhya).
It references niṣkṛti (prāyaścitta) in principle, contrasting common expiations with the claimed non-expiability of kṛtaghna-doṣa.