Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 76
वसिष्ठ उवाच । राक्षसत्वं प्रपन्नेन त्वया पार्थिवसत्तम । ब्राह्मणा बहवो ध्वस्तास्तथा विध्वंसिता मखाः । तेषां त्वं पार्थिवश्रेष्ठ संस्पृष्टो ब्रह्महत्यया
vasiṣṭha uvāca | rākṣasatvaṃ prapannena tvayā pārthivasattama | brāhmaṇā bahavo dhvastāstathā vidhvaṃsitā makhāḥ | teṣāṃ tvaṃ pārthivaśreṣṭha saṃspṛṣṭo brahmahatyayā
वसिष्ठ उवाच—पार्थिवसत्तम, त्वया राक्षसत्वं प्रपन्नेन बहवो ब्राह्मणाः ध्वस्ताः, मखाश्च विध्वंसिताः; अतः पार्थिवश्रेष्ठ, त्वं ब्रह्महत्यापापेन संस्पृष्टः।
Vasiṣṭha
Listener: the king (pārthiva-sattama)
Scene: Sage Vasiṣṭha, composed and authoritative, pronounces the diagnosis; the king bows, shaken, as the words ‘brahmahatyā’ land like a thunderclap; ruined altars and fleeing brāhmaṇas appear as a symbolic backdrop/vision.
FAQs
Adharma that harms saints and disrupts yajña corrodes one’s spiritual standing; recognizing the cause is the first step toward rightful expiation.
No single tīrtha is named here; the teaching prepares for tīrtha-yātrā as the remedy in subsequent verses.
The verse diagnoses the fault (brahmahatyā); the explicit prescription (tīrtha-yātrā) follows shortly after.