Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 28
जन्मांतरार्जितं किंचिदस्याः सुकृतमस्ति वा । तत्कथं कुष्ठरोगण कृमिभिः परिभूयते
janmāṃtarārjitaṃ kiṃcidasyāḥ sukṛtamasti vā | tatkathaṃ kuṣṭharogaṇa kṛmibhiḥ paribhūyate
کیا اس کے پاس پچھلے جنموں میں کمایا ہوا کوئی سُکرت (نیکی) ہے بھی؟ اگر ہے تو پھر یہ کوڑھ کے روگ سے کیوں ستائی جا رہی ہے اور کیڑوں سے کیوں گھِری ہوئی ہے؟
Unspecified narrator/speaker addressing Śiva’s messengers (context: a questioning interlocutor)
Scene: A poignant image of an afflicted woman with leprosy and worms (symbolic, not sensational), while the speaker questions how such torment aligns with any past merit; background shows a compassionate figure offering water/cloth, hinting at dharma amid suffering.
FAQs
It raises the classic purāṇic question of karma: how prior merit and present suffering can coexist, preparing for the revelation of hidden virtue and divine mercy.
None is mentioned in this verse.
No ritual is prescribed; the verse discusses karma (sukṛta) and its apparent contradiction with suffering.