Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 2
सांप्रतं शीलजां ब्रूहि नष्टवंशश्च यो भवेत् । पितामहं न जानाति न च मातामहीं निजाम् । तस्य शुद्धिः कथं कार्या नागरोऽस्मीति यो वदेत्
sāṃprataṃ śīlajāṃ brūhi naṣṭavaṃśaśca yo bhavet | pitāmahaṃ na jānāti na ca mātāmahīṃ nijām | tasya śuddhiḥ kathaṃ kāryā nāgaro'smīti yo vadet
ഇപ്പോൾ ശീലത്തെ ആധാരമാക്കിയ ശുദ്ധി പറയുക. ആരുടെയെങ്കിലും വംശം നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടാൽ—അവൻ പിതാമഹനെയും അറിയില്ല, സ്വന്തം മാതാമഹിയെയും അറിയില്ല—‘ഞാൻ നാഗരൻ’ എന്നു പറയുന്നവന്റെ ശുദ്ധി എങ്ങനെ ചെയ്യണം?
Ānarta
Tirtha: Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Viśvāmitra (addressed indirectly as ‘brūhi’)
Scene: A worried petitioner speaks of not knowing grandparents; elders listen gravely; symbolic broken family tree behind him; a path leading to a temple/tīrtha suggests restoration through dharma and pilgrimage rites.
FAQs
When lineage proof is unavailable, dharma also considers conduct (śīla) as a basis for determining purification and eligibility.
The inquiry occurs within the Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra-māhātmya framework in the Nāgara-khaṇḍa.
A request for the method of śuddhi for a naṣṭavaṃśa (unknown lineage) claimant to Nāgara status, to be determined via śīla.