Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 43
एवं स प्रलपन्विप्रो बभ्राम गहने वने । कुशकण्टकविद्धांगः क्षुत्पिपासासमाकुलः
evaṃ sa pralapanvipro babhrāma gahane vane | kuśakaṇṭakaviddhāṃgaḥ kṣutpipāsāsamākulaḥ
ഇങ്ങനെ വിലപിച്ചുകൊണ്ട് ആ ബ്രാഹ്മണൻ ഘനവനത്തിൽ അലഞ്ഞു. കുശപ്പുല്ലും മുള്ളുകളും ശരീരം കുത്തി, വിശപ്പും ദാഹവും കൊണ്ട് വ്യാകുലനായി।
Narrator (describing Jābāli)
Scene: A lone brāhmaṇa, clothes torn, body scratched by kuśa and thorns, staggers through a dark, tangled forest, clutching his chest in grief; sparse moonlight filters through dense foliage.
FAQs
Suffering in pursuit of what is righteous mirrors tapas; endurance becomes the bridge leading the seeker toward sacred discovery.
No specific site is named in this verse; it sets the hardship-filled approach within the Mahātmya narrative.
None explicitly; the verse depicts hardship akin to involuntary austerity.