Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 1
आनर्त उवाच । मूर्खत्वाद्वा प्रमादाद्वा कामाद्बालस्यतोऽपि वा । यो नरः कुरुते पापं प्रायश्चित्तं करोति न
ānarta uvāca | mūrkhatvādvā pramādādvā kāmādbālasyato'pi vā | yo naraḥ kurute pāpaṃ prāyaścittaṃ karoti na
ആനർത്തൻ പറഞ്ഞു—മൂഢതകൊണ്ടോ, അശ്രദ്ധകൊണ്ടോ, ആഗ്രഹംകൊണ്ടോ, ബാലഭാവംകൊണ്ടോ പാപം ചെയ്ത് പ്രായശ്ചിത്തം ചെയ്യാത്ത മനുഷ്യൻ…
Ānarta
Scene: Ānarta addresses an assembly, enumerating causes of sin—folly, negligence, desire, childishness—contrasting a heedless sinner with a penitent performing expiation.
FAQs
Sin may arise from many human weaknesses; Purāṇic dharma insists on timely atonement as a corrective spiritual discipline.
Not named in this verse; it introduces a prāyaścitta inquiry within the ongoing kṣetra-māhātmya setting (Hāṭakeśvara/Vātakeśvara region).
The need for prāyaścitta (expiatory practice) is stated, though the specific rite is asked for rather than given here.