Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 29
क्रव्यादा एव सर्वेषु नगरेषु पुरेषु च । आसन्नभ्रंलिहो वृक्षाः सर्वत्र क्षोणिमंडले
kravyādā eva sarveṣu nagareṣu pureṣu ca | āsannabhraṃliho vṛkṣāḥ sarvatra kṣoṇimaṃḍale
ہر شہر اور بستی میں صرف کَروْیاد—گوشت خور درندے—ہی رہ گئے۔ اور سارے بھومَندل میں درخت ایسے کھڑے تھے گویا بادلوں کو چاٹ رہے ہوں؛ بلند مگر سوکھے سوکھے۔
Skanda
Listener: Agastya
Scene: A haunting cityscape: empty streets with lurking flesh-eaters; skeletal tall trees reaching into low clouds as if ‘licking’ them; a dim, dust-laden sky over a silent earth.
FAQs
When sustenance and dharma collapse, predatory behavior dominates—showing how societal ethics depend upon cosmic and ritual balance.
No tīrtha is named here; it intensifies the world-crisis that frames Kāśī’s saving sanctity later in the chapter.
None directly; the verse depicts conditions that arise when yajña and order diminish.