Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 45
अहं पूर्विकया ते वै न्यषेधंत परस्परम् । अहं पूर्वमहं पूर्वमिति वीरा यथा रणे
ahaṃ pūrvikayā te vai nyaṣedhaṃta parasparam | ahaṃ pūrvamahaṃ pūrvamiti vīrā yathā raṇe
‘నేనే ముందు’ అనే గర్వంతో వారు పరస్పరం అడ్డుకున్నారు; ‘నేనే ముందు, నేనే ముందు’ అని యుద్ధరంగంలోని వీరుల వలె।
Narrator (unnamed first-person context continuing; likely Sūta’s narration)
Listener: Audience of the Purāṇic narration; immediate listeners are the competing elders
Scene: Twelve elder sages animatedly interrupt each other, each leaning forward with raised hand, like warriors vying for the first strike; the questioner watches, composed.
FAQs
Even the learned can be seized by ego; dharmic learning requires humility so that truth, not ‘I-first,’ prevails.
The verse is part of the same āśrama-region narrative; it does not name a particular tīrtha.
None; it functions as a moral observation about conduct in scholarly and spiritual assemblies.