Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 18
अपचन्यावदग्नौ तं क्षुधया परिपीडिताः । वृषादर्भिर्नृपः प्राप्तः श्रुत्वा तेषां विचेष्टितम्
apacanyāvadagnau taṃ kṣudhayā paripīḍitāḥ | vṛṣādarbhirnṛpaḥ prāptaḥ śrutvā teṣāṃ viceṣṭitam
क्षुधया परिपीडिताः ते तमग्नौ अपचन्त्येव। तेषां विचेष्टितं श्रुत्वा वृषादर्भिर्नृपः प्राप्तः॥
Narrator (Purāṇic narrator; unspecified in snippet)
Type: kshetra
Scene: Starving men place the child on a fire to cook; at that moment King Vṛṣādarbhī arrives, alarmed, witnessing the atrocity.
FAQs
Royal dharma includes protecting moral order; a righteous king intervenes when even sages falter under distress.
No tīrtha is named in this verse; it advances the episode that culminates in tīrtha-related purification teaching.
Implicitly introduces the need for correction and expiation; explicit prescriptions appear in subsequent dialogue.