Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 8
त्वं जितः कार्तवीर्येण रैणुकेयेन सोऽपि च । स रामो रामभद्रेण तस्य संख्ये कथं जयः
tvaṃ jitaḥ kārtavīryeṇa raiṇukeyena so'pi ca | sa rāmo rāmabhadreṇa tasya saṃkhye kathaṃ jayaḥ
त्वं कार्तवीर्येण जितोऽसि, स च रैणुकेयेन रामेण पराजितः। स रामोऽपि रामभद्रेण जितः; तस्मात् संख्ये तस्य कथं जयः सुनिश्चितः?
Narrator (speaker not explicit in this verse; appears as argumentative speech within the episode)
Tirtha: Revā (Narmadā) region context
Type: kshetra
Listener: Rāvaṇa (as interlocutor within the narrative frame)
Scene: A courtly debate scene: a challenger cites a chain of legendary defeats—Kārtavīrya, Paraśurāma, and Rāma—using it as a rhetorical spear to puncture certainty of victory.
FAQs
Worldly power is unstable; pride in invincibility is misplaced because even great heroes face reversal under time and dharma.
No tīrtha is specified; the verse is part of an epic-historical reflection embedded in Revā Khaṇḍa.
None; it is a rhetorical argument rather than a ritual statement.