Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 104
मुक्त्वा शस्त्रहतं चैकं तस्मिन्नहनि यो नरः । करिष्यति तथा श्राद्धं भूतभोज्यं भविष्यति । विश्वामित्र उवाच । तथेत्युक्ते तु शक्रेण ब्रह्मा लोकपितामहः । विश्वेदेवैस्ततः प्रोक्तो विनयावनतैः स्थितैः
muktvā śastrahataṃ caikaṃ tasminnahani yo naraḥ | kariṣyati tathā śrāddhaṃ bhūtabhojyaṃ bhaviṣyati | viśvāmitra uvāca | tathetyukte tu śakreṇa brahmā lokapitāmahaḥ | viśvedevaistataḥ prokto vinayāvanataiḥ sthitaiḥ
शस्त्राने मारलेला एक जण वगळून, त्या दिवशी जो मनुष्य त्या प्रकारे श्राद्ध करील, त्याचे अन्न भूतांचे भोज्य होईल. विश्वामित्र म्हणाले—शक्र (इंद्र) ‘तथास्तु’ म्हणताच, विनयाने नतमस्तक उभ्या असलेल्या विश्वेदेवांनी लोकपितामह ब्रह्म्यास निवेदन केले.
Viśvāmitra (narrator for the latter portion); Brahmā’s ordinance continues in the first portion
Type: kshetra
Scene: A ritual day at a sacred place: a householder prepares śrāddha offerings; shadowy bhūtas hover to seize misdirected food; Indra assents; Brahmā sits as cosmic judge while Viśvedevās stand with folded hands, bowed in humility.
FAQs
Rites done against injunction can be misdirected and lose their intended merit; precision in dharma protects offerings from becoming spiritually ‘wasted’.
The passage belongs to Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya narrative; this verse itself emphasizes śrāddha correctness rather than naming a site.
A warning that, except for the weapon-slain case, performing śrāddha on that day in the wrong mode becomes ‘bhūta-bhojya’; it then transitions to the Viśvedevās petitioning Brahmā.
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