Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 42
अस्माकं निधनं प्राप्तं कुटुम्बं सुरसत्तमाः । अहं कृच्छ्रेण निष्क्रांत एतस्माज्जलसंश्रयात्
asmākaṃ nidhanaṃ prāptaṃ kuṭumbaṃ surasattamāḥ | ahaṃ kṛcchreṇa niṣkrāṃta etasmājjalasaṃśrayāt
“Wahai yang terbaik di antara para dewa, seluruh keluargaku telah menemui ajal. Aku sendiri hanya dapat keluar dengan susah payah dari tempat berlindung berair ini.”
A frog (bheka) addressing the gods (devas)
Type: kund
Listener: Suras (the gods)
Scene: A lone frog, scorched and exhausted, clings to the bank; behind it the pond steams faintly; it addresses a gathered circle of radiant devas, hands folded in animal-like supplication.
FAQs
Even in sacred landscapes, beings suffer the results of circumstance and karma; truthful disclosure before the divine becomes the turning point of the narrative.
The verse occurs within Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya (Adhyāya 90) around a jalāśaya; the snippet itself does not name the tīrtha explicitly.
No direct prescription (snāna, dāna, japa, vrata) appears in this verse.