Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 51
यदा त्वं क्रूरबुद्धिं तं राक्षसं निहनिष्यसि । तदा त्वं लप्स्यसे मोक्षं राक्षसत्वात्सुदारुणात्
yadā tvaṃ krūrabuddhiṃ taṃ rākṣasaṃ nihaniṣyasi | tadā tvaṃ lapsyase mokṣaṃ rākṣasatvātsudāruṇāt
“Apabila engkau membunuh rākṣasa itu yang berakal kejam, pada saat itu engkau akan mencapai mokṣa, terbebas daripada keadaan rākṣasa yang amat mengerikan.”
Unspecified (same advising voice addressing the king)
Type: kshetra
Listener: the king (addressed as tvam)
Scene: A prophetic instruction: ‘When you slay that cruel-minded rākṣasa, you will attain mokṣa, freed from dreadful rākṣasa-hood’—a stark linkage of heroic action and transcendence.
FAQs
Liberation is linked with the cessation of cruelty—ending adharma becomes the doorway to release from degraded states.
The verse is within a tīrtha-mahātmya context, but this line itself does not identify the site.
No ritual is prescribed; the ‘act’ described is the removal of a cruel rākṣasa as a karmic turning point.