कार्तिकेय उवाच । शूद्राणां च तथा स्त्रीणां धर्मं विस्तरतो वद । केन मुक्तिर्भवेत्तेषां कृष्णस्याराधनं विना
kārtikeya uvāca | śūdrāṇāṃ ca tathā strīṇāṃ dharmaṃ vistarato vada | kena muktirbhavetteṣāṃ kṛṣṇasyārādhanaṃ vinā
Kārtikeya disse: Explica em detalhe o dharma para os śūdras e, do mesmo modo, para as mulheres. Por que meio pode surgir para eles a libertação, fora da adoração a Kṛṣṇa?
Kārtikeya (Skanda)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Īśvara (Śiva)
Scene: Kārtikeya, earnest and compassionate, questions Īśvara in an assembly; the excluded groups are symbolically represented at the margins, awaiting an inclusive teaching.
It presses the theological question of access to liberation and seeks a dharma-path for those described as ineligible for certain rites.
No site is named; the verse is part of a doctrinal dialogue within the māhātmya narrative.
It explicitly references Kṛṣṇa-ārādhana (worship of Kṛṣṇa) as the key practice under discussion.