Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 8
स्त्रीहत्यया समायुक्तस्त्वं च नूनं भविष्यसि । प्रमाणं यदि धर्मोऽत्र स्मृतिशास्त्रसमुद्भवः
strīhatyayā samāyuktastvaṃ ca nūnaṃ bhaviṣyasi | pramāṇaṃ yadi dharmo'tra smṛtiśāstrasamudbhavaḥ
നീയും നിശ്ചയമായി സ്ത്രീഹത്യാപാപത്തിൽ ലിപ്തനാകും—ഇവിടെ ധർമ്മത്തിന്റെ പ്രമാണം സ്മൃതിശാസ്ത്രങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നുയർന്ന അധികാരമെന്നാൽ।
Kāśirāja’s daughter (Amba, implied)
Listener: Audience (implicit)
Scene: Amba’s accusation shifts into a pointed legal-ethical challenge: she invokes Smṛti as a measuring rod, while Bhīṣma stands conflicted, the firelight casting stark shadows like a courtroom of dharma.
FAQs
Dharma is not merely sentiment; it is weighed against recognized ethical standards, and grave harm accrues grave sin.
No tīrtha is named in this verse; it frames the dharma-issue that later turns toward tīrtha-based purification.
None here; the verse establishes the charge of strī-hatyā that motivates later expiatory instruction.