Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 16
अपि चाष्टकुलोत्पन्नः सामान्यः किं पुनर्हि यः । अशुद्धेन तु विप्रेण यः श्राद्धा द्यं करोति हि । तस्य भस्महुतं यद्वत्सर्वं तज्जायते वृथा
api cāṣṭakulotpannaḥ sāmānyaḥ kiṃ punarhi yaḥ | aśuddhena tu vipreṇa yaḥ śrāddhā dyaṃ karoti hi | tasya bhasmahutaṃ yadvatsarvaṃ tajjāyate vṛthā
എട്ടുകുലത്തിൽ ജനിച്ചവനായാലും—മറ്റുള്ളവരെപ്പറ്റി പറയേണ്ടതില്ല—അശുദ്ധനായ ബ്രാഹ്മണൻ ശ്രാദ്ധാദി കർമ്മങ്ങൾ ചെയ്താൽ, അതെല്ലാം ഭസ്മത്തിൽ ഹുതി ഒഴിച്ചതുപോലെ വ്യർത്ഥമാകും.
Narrative voice (speaker not explicit in this verse)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A symbolic contrast: on one side, a śrāddha performed by an impure officiant dissolves into grey ash imagery; on the other, a purified officiant yields luminous offerings reaching serene ancestral figures—illustrating ‘bhāsmāhuta’ futility versus true efficacy.
FAQs
Ritual acts require purity and proper qualification; otherwise, the intended merit and ancestral benefit do not manifest.
The verse is part of the Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra-māhātmya narrative framework but focuses on śrāddha validity rather than a site’s praise.
A warning that śrāddha and allied rites should not be conducted by an aśuddha (impure) vipra, or the rite becomes ineffective.