Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 21
स्त्रीशूद्राणां तदर्धं च तदर्ध बालवृद्धयोः । मृन्मयानां च भांडानां परित्यागो निवेदितः
strīśūdrāṇāṃ tadardhaṃ ca tadardha bālavṛddhayoḥ | mṛnmayānāṃ ca bhāṃḍānāṃ parityāgo niveditaḥ
स्त्रिया व शूद्रांसाठी त्याचे अर्धे (प्रायश्चित्त) सांगितले, आणि बालक व वृद्धांसाठी त्याच्याही अर्धे; तसेच मातीच्या भांड्यांचा त्याग करण्याची आज्ञा दिली।
Unspecified narrator
Type: kshetra
Scene: A household scene: elders advise that women and śūdras undertake half-penance; children and the aged are shown resting; attendants carry away cracked earthen pots to be discarded outside the settlement.
FAQs
Dharma applies with discernment: austerities are adjusted according to capacity and vulnerability, while maintaining the aim of purity.
The verse is part of Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya; it addresses purification practice rather than a named tīrtha.
Reduced (fractional) penances for women/śūdras and further reduction for children/elderly, plus discarding earthen utensils.