Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 17
कच्चित्ते सफला वेदाः कच्चित्ते सफलं श्रुतम् । कच्चित्ते सफला दाराः कच्चित्ते सफलं धनम्
kaccitte saphalā vedāḥ kaccitte saphalaṃ śrutam | kaccitte saphalā dārāḥ kaccitte saphalaṃ dhanam
“Adakah Veda tuanku berbuah? Adakah ilmu yang didengar dan dipelajari (śruta) itu berbuah? Adakah isteri dan kehidupan rumah tangga tuanku berbuah? Adakah harta tuanku berbuah?”
Mārkaṇḍeya (implied by adjacent context)
Listener: Śaunaka-group (frame implied)
Scene: The sage, with calm authority, asks a sequence of probing questions; the king listens attentively, hands folded, as if undergoing a moral examination.
FAQs
Life’s pillars—scripture, learning, family, and wealth—must be judged by their dharmic ‘fruit,’ not mere possession.
No specific tīrtha is named; the teaching is ethical and applies within the pilgrimage narrative.
None directly; it sets up criteria for dharmic fulfillment that will be defined in the next verse.