Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 44
अन्त्यजः स परिज्ञेयो मातृविक्रयकारकः । तस्मान्नाहं प्रदास्यामि नन्दिनीं तां महीपते
antyajaḥ sa parijñeyo mātṛvikrayakārakaḥ | tasmānnāhaṃ pradāsyāmi nandinīṃ tāṃ mahīpate
जो मातृविक्रय करणारा—म्हणजेच स्वतःच्या मातेला विकणारा—तो अन्त्यज समजावा. म्हणून, हे महीपते, मी ती नंदिनी देणार नाही.
Vasiṣṭha (addressing the king)
Tirtha: Nandinī (cow and/or associated tīrtha name in the episode)
Type: kund
Listener: Mahīpati (king)
Scene: A brāhmaṇa refuses the king’s request to give Nandinī, declaring cow-sale akin to mother-sale and branding the seller as antyaja; the cow stands central, calm yet symbolically powerful.
FAQs
To violate reverence for the ‘motherly’ (the cow as dharma’s support) is a severe moral fall; righteousness refuses unethical demands even from rulers.
The immediate verse focuses on ethical teaching within the Tīrthamāhātmya framework; no single tīrtha is explicitly named in this line.
No ritual is stated; the verse is a dharmic refusal, emphasizing non-transfer of the sacred cow.