Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 16
हन्यमानेन तेनाथ प्रमुक्तः सुमहान्स्वनः । हा मातस्तात तातेति विपन्नोऽस्मि निरागसः
hanyamānena tenātha pramuktaḥ sumahānsvanaḥ | hā mātastāta tāteti vipanno'smi nirāgasaḥ
तो मार खात असता एक अतिमोठा आर्तस्वर उठला—“हा माता! हा पिता! पिता!”—“मी निरपराध असूनही नष्ट होत आहे।”
Rudramāla (the nāga child), as quoted within the narration
Type: tīrtha (tīra)
Scene: The serpent-child, being struck, releases a thunderous, human-like lament—calling ‘Mother, Father’—revealing personhood and innocence; the air vibrates with the cry over the water.
FAQs
Adharma is exposed by the voice of the innocent; harming the blameless is a direct violation of dharma and invites severe consequence.
The event is situated in the Nāgatīrtha narrative frame, intensifying the moral gravity of actions performed at a sacred locale.
None explicitly; the verse functions as a moral indictment of violence rather than a ritual instruction.
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