Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 39
एषामन्यतमः कार्यो गृहस्थेन विपश्चिता । पूर्वपूर्वः सुतः श्रेयान्हीनःस्यादुत्तरोत्तरः
eṣāmanyatamaḥ kāryo gṛhasthena vipaścitā | pūrvapūrvaḥ sutaḥ śreyānhīnaḥsyāduttarottaraḥ
या पुत्रप्रकारांपैकी एखाद्यास विवेकी गृहस्थाने पुत्रत्वाने स्वीकारून स्थापन करावे. पूर्वी सांगितलेला पुत्र श्रेष्ठ, आणि पुढे पुढे सांगितलेले क्रमशः अधिक हीन होत जातात.
Skanda (narration to Agastya, per Kāśīkhaṇḍa convention)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: A learned householder seated with palm-leaf manuscripts, consulting elders/ācāryas about dharmic son-establishment; background hints of Kāśī ghāṭas and a small household shrine.
FAQs
Household dharma is to be carried responsibly; traditions rank options for lineage continuity and encourage the most dharmically sound choice.
None directly; the verse is normative dharma guidance within the Kāśīkhaṇḍa narrative frame.
No specific rite; it advises selecting an appropriate form of sonship for sustaining obligations such as ancestral offerings.