Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 23
पंक्तिभेदस्य कर्ता च गोसहस्रवधः स्मृतः । वृत्तिभागविभजनं तथा न्यायविचारणम् । श्रीरामदूतकस्याग्रे कर्त्तव्यमिति निश्चयः
paṃktibhedasya kartā ca gosahasravadhaḥ smṛtaḥ | vṛttibhāgavibhajanaṃ tathā nyāyavicāraṇam | śrīrāmadūtakasyāgre karttavyamiti niścayaḥ
ഭോജനപങ്ക്തിയിൽ ഭേദം വരുത്തുന്നവൻ സഹസ്ര ഗോവധത്തിന് തുല്യനെന്ന് സ്മരിക്കപ്പെടുന്നു. ഉപജീവനവിഹിതങ്ങളുടെ വിഭജനംയും നീതിന്യായപരിശോധനയും—ഇവയെല്ലാം ശ്രീരാമദൂതൻ (ഹനുമാൻ) സന്നിധിയിൽ നടത്തണമെന്നു നിശ്ചയം.
Deductive: Sūta (narrating dharma rules) introducing Hanumān as witness/guardian of righteous judgment
Tirtha: Śrī Rāma-dūta (Hanumān) sannidhi
Type: temple
Scene: A village/city assembly meets before a Hanumān shrine: elders seated in a semicircle, offerings at Hanumān’s feet; a scribe records shares; disputants stand with folded hands; Hanumān’s image presides as witness.
FAQs
Social harmony and truthful justice are sacred; violating communal order is a grave sin, while righteous decisions should be made under divine witness (Hanumān).
No specific location is named; the verse sacralizes the act of justice itself by placing it before Hanumān (Śrī Rāma’s dūta).
A devotional-legal prescription: conduct distribution of shares and judicial deliberations in the presence of Hanumān (as a sanctifying witness).