Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 8
शयानो मैथुनासक्तः स्तनपो व्याधिपीडितः । न हंतव्यो मृगो राजन्मृगी च शिशुना वृता
śayāno maithunāsaktaḥ stanapo vyādhipīḍitaḥ | na haṃtavyo mṛgo rājanmṛgī ca śiśunā vṛtā
「王よ、鹿は横たわるとき、交わりに耽るとき、乳を与えるとき、病に苦しむときには殺してはならぬ。まして子鹿を伴う雌鹿を討ってはならぬ。」
Mṛgī (the doe)
Tirtha: Arbuda-kṣetra (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Scene: The doe enumerates prohibitions like a dharma-śāstra: scenes implied—deer lying down, mating pair, fawn suckling, sick deer, and a doe with her fawn—contrasted with the king’s poised arrow.
FAQs
Dharma restrains power: even a king must avoid cruelty, especially toward the vulnerable (the sick, mating animals, and mothers with young).
The Arbuda (Mount Abu) sacred region in the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa’s Arbuda-khaṇḍa, where moral transgression triggers immediate karmic consequence.
No ritual is prescribed here; it gives an ethical injunction (ahiṃsā and restraint) relevant to kṣatriya conduct.