Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 11
ब्राह्मण उवाच । नाहं तत्र गमिष्यामि दिष्ट्या प्राप्तोस्मि तेंऽतिकम् । वांछमानः सदा मृत्युं दारिद्र्येण कदर्थितः
brāhmaṇa uvāca | nāhaṃ tatra gamiṣyāmi diṣṭyā prāptosmi teṃ'tikam | vāṃchamānaḥ sadā mṛtyuṃ dāridryeṇa kadarthitaḥ
พราหมณ์กล่าวว่า: “ข้าพเจ้าจะไม่กลับไปที่นั่นอีก ด้วยบุญวาสนา ข้าพเจ้าได้มาถึงต่อหน้าท่านแล้ว ถูกความยากจนบีบคั้น ข้าพเจ้าปรารถนาความตายอยู่เสมอ”
Brāhmaṇa (the long-lived, impoverished Gokarṇa brought by mistake)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Dharmarāja (Yama)
Scene: A destitute brāhmaṇa, emaciated and grief-stricken, stands before a majestic, austere Dharmarāja; the contrast of human fragility and cosmic law is central.
FAQs
Purāṇic narratives acknowledge worldly suffering: poverty can crush the mind, yet the episode frames even despair within a larger moral-cosmic order overseen by dharma.
The story originates in Mathurā, though this verse itself is spoken in Yama’s presence, emphasizing the moral drama rather than a specific tīrtha act.
None; it is a personal declaration of refusal to return and a confession of suffering due to poverty.