Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 19
भक्ष्यन्ते केनचिद्रात्रौ मृत्युमेव प्रयान्ति च । नष्टधर्मक्रियाः सर्वे भूतले प्रपितामह
bhakṣyante kenacidrātrau mṛtyumeva prayānti ca | naṣṭadharmakriyāḥ sarve bhūtale prapitāmaha
«À noite, algum ser desconhecido os devora, e eles só encontram a morte. Todas as observâncias do dharma pereceram na terra, ó Grande Ancestral!»
Tāpasas and jñāna-śīlins addressing Brahmā (reported speech)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis (frame assumed)
Scene: Terrified sages describe an unseen nocturnal eater; the earth below is shown with extinguished sacrificial fires, silent altars, and abandoned ritual spaces; they address Brahmā as Pitāmaha.
FAQs
Dharma is sustained by living communities of practice; when practitioners are destroyed, society urgently needs divine and righteous protection.
The crisis is narrated within the Prabhāsa-kṣetra framework, where dharma’s restoration becomes part of the site’s sacred narrative.
No prescription; the verse laments the collapse of dharma-kriyā due to nightly violence.