Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 20
मत्वा कलियुगं रौद्रं बहुपापं वरानने । नान्येन तरते दुर्गां कर्मणा दुर्गतिं नरः
matvā kaliyugaṃ raudraṃ bahupāpaṃ varānane | nānyena tarate durgāṃ karmaṇā durgatiṃ naraḥ
ഹേ വരാനനേ! കലിയുഗം ക്രൂരവും അനേകം പാപങ്ങളാൽ നിറഞ്ഞതുമെന്നു അറിഞ്ഞിട്ടും, മനുഷ്യൻ മറ്റേതൊരു കർമത്താലും ഈ ദുർഗമ ദുർഗതി കടക്കാൻ കഴിയില്ല.
Śiva (addressing Devī; 'varānane')
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (implied)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Varānanā (addressed ‘O lovely-faced one’; likely a female interlocutor within the narrative frame)
Scene: A contrast scene: dark, turbulent Kali-yuga with people burdened by chains labeled ‘karma’, and a luminous path leading to the Somanātha shrine at Prabhāsa, suggesting refuge through divine grace rather than mere worldly striving.
FAQs
In the Kali age, ordinary karmic striving tends toward hardship; one needs a higher salvific support—implied here as the kṣetra’s deity-centered refuge.
The surrounding context is Prabhāsa Kṣetra and Someśvara worship as the implied means of crossing Kali-yuga’s dangers.
No explicit ritual is named in this verse; it sets the theological premise that ordinary means are insufficient, preparing for the kṣetra-based remedy.