Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 12
जलधेनुं च यो दद्याद्धृषसंस्थे दिवाकरे । तिलधेनुं मृगस्थे च नरकं न स पश्यति
jaladhenuṃ ca yo dadyāddhṛṣasaṃsthe divākare | tiladhenuṃ mṛgasthe ca narakaṃ na sa paśyati
धृषसंस्थे दिवाकरे यो जलधेनुं ददाति, मृगस्थे च तिलधेनुं ददाति, स नरकं न पश्यति।
Bhīṣma (to Yudhiṣṭhira)
Scene: A ritual pavilion at a tīrtha: a donor offers a ‘jaladhenu’ (cow-form vessel/representation filled with water) and later a ‘tiladhenu’ (cow-form representation associated with sesame), with priests chanting and the Sun’s transit indicated in the sky-chart motif.
FAQs
Timely, vowed charity (dāna) performed with ritual intent is praised as a powerful purifier that prevents a fall into hellish suffering.
The broader passage belongs to the Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya within the Nāgara-khaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya.
Donating symbolic ‘cows’—a jaladhenū (water-related gift) and a tiladhenū (sesame-related gift)—at specified solar placements (Dhṛṣa and Mṛga).