Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 10
यत्र देवाश्च ऋषयस्तत्र गत्वा महासुरः । छद्मना वा बलेनैव विघ्नं प्रकुरुते नृप
yatra devāśca ṛṣayastatra gatvā mahāsuraḥ | chadmanā vā balenaiva vighnaṃ prakurute nṛpa
ഹേ നൃപ, ദേവന്മാരും ഋഷിമാരും എവിടെ കൂടുന്നുവോ അവിടേക്ക് ആ മഹാസുരനും ചെന്നു കപടത്താലോ ബലത്താലോ വിഘ്നം സൃഷ്ടിക്കുന്നു।
Unspecified narrator (addressing a king; likely a Purāṇic narrator within Dharmāraṇya-kathā)
Listener: Yudhiṣṭhira
Scene: A luminous gathering of devas and sages around a sacrificial fire or council; the asura arrives—sometimes disguised (chadma) as an ascetic, sometimes openly armed—casting a shadow and scattering the assembly.
FAQs
Even sacred gatherings attract opposition; dharma must be protected with vigilance against both deception (chadman) and brute force (bala).
The verse sits in the Dharmāraṇya context, pointing to the sanctity of Dharmāraṇya as a place where devas and ṛṣis assemble—hence it is implicitly glorified as a spiritually charged kṣetra.
No direct ritual (snāna, dāna, japa, vrata) is stated in this verse; it functions as narrative teaching about impediments (vighna) arising around sacred activity.