Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 93
अन्नक्षयो वा सर्वस्यां नगर्यामभवत्क्षणात् । राजदंडोथ युगपज्जातः सर्वपुरौकसाम्
annakṣayo vā sarvasyāṃ nagaryāmabhavatkṣaṇāt | rājadaṃḍotha yugapajjātaḥ sarvapuraukasām
“அல்லது முழு நகரிலும் கணநேரத்தில் அன்னக் குறைவு ஏற்பட்டிருக்கலாம்; அல்லது ஒரே நேரத்தில் நகரவாசிகள் அனைவர்மீதும் அரச தண்டனை விழுந்திருக்கலாம்.”
Vyāsa (speculating on causes)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and ṛṣis (frame assumed; not explicit in excerpt)
Scene: Vyāsa enumerates possible causes: sudden citywide food scarcity or simultaneous royal crackdown; the backdrop shows anxious townspeople, shuttered homes, and a tense marketplace near the ghāṭa.
FAQs
Material conditions and governance affect dharmic practices like giving; dharma is lived within society.
Kāśī is the city referenced; its civic life is part of the Kāśī-māhātmya portrayal.
None; the verse lists possible worldly causes for the absence of bhikṣā.