Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 37
निंदको नास्तिको वापि कूटसाक्ष्यप्रवादकः । अभक्ष्यभक्षको वापि तथाऽविक्रेय विक्रयी
niṃdako nāstiko vāpi kūṭasākṣyapravādakaḥ | abhakṣyabhakṣako vāpi tathā'vikreya vikrayī
ആരെങ്കിലും നിന്ദകനായാലും, നാസ്തികനായാലും, കള്ളസാക്ഷ്യം പ്രചരിപ്പിക്കുന്നവനായാലും, അഭക്ഷ്യം ഭക്ഷിക്കുന്നവനായാലും, അല്ലെങ്കിൽ വിൽക്കരുതാത്തതും വിൽക്കുന്നവനായാലും—
Skanda (deduced: Kāśī Khaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: A didactic tableau: figures representing slander, atheism, false witness, forbidden eating, and unethical trade stand at the threshold of Kāśī, confronted by the looming presence of a liṅga and the moral weight of their acts.
FAQs
It lists serious moral transgressions to set up a teaching on how sins may be addressed—while hinting that some offenses are uniquely dangerous.
The context is Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa, where dharma and expiation are discussed in relation to the sacred kṣetra.
No specific rite is stated in this verse; it functions as a catalogue of sins leading into the prāyaścitta teaching that follows.