Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 87
कृपणानां प्रसादेन शेषो धारयते महीम् । यतस्ते भूगतं वित्तं कुर्वते तस्य चोष्मणा
kṛpaṇānāṃ prasādena śeṣo dhārayate mahīm | yataste bhūgataṃ vittaṃ kurvate tasya coṣmaṇā
कृपणांच्या ‘कृपेने’च शेषनाग पृथ्वी धारण करतो; कारण ते आपले धन भूमीत गाडतात, आणि त्या गाडलेल्या खजिन्याच्या उष्णतेने भूमीही तापते।
Narrator (context: Maṇibhadra-upākhyāna; explicit speaker not marked in this verse)
Type: kshetra
Scene: Ananta-Śeṣa beneath the earth, many-hooded, bearing Bhū-devī; above, misers bury pots of gold, and the earth glows faintly—comic cosmic linkage between buried treasure and ‘warming’ the earth.
FAQs
Even cosmic imagery is used to condemn hoarding: burying wealth is a burden on the earth; dharma prefers wealth offered in charity and sacred works.
The verse belongs to the Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya stream within Nāgara Khaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya.
No explicit rite; the ethical prescription is to avoid kṛpaṇatā (miserliness) and practice dāna.