Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 11
गणावूचतुः । अयं पिशाचलोकोत्र वसंति पिशिताशनाः । दत्त्वानुतापभाजो ये नोनो कृत्वा ददत्यपि
gaṇāvūcatuḥ | ayaṃ piśācalokotra vasaṃti piśitāśanāḥ | dattvānutāpabhājo ye nono kṛtvā dadatyapi
گَṇوں نے کہا: یہ پِشَچوں کی دنیا ہے؛ یہاں گوشت خور بستے ہیں۔ جو لوگ خیرات دے کر پھر ندامت میں پڑتے ہیں—بار بار افسوس کے ساتھ دیتے ہیں—وہ اسی حالت کے شریک ہوتے ہیں۔
Śiva’s Gaṇas (two attendants)
Listener: A traveling observer within the narrative (addressed as ‘sakhā’/companion context across verses)
Scene: A liminal otherworld labeled ‘Piśāca-loka’: gaunt, flesh-eating beings in a shadowed terrain; two Śiva-gaṇas point out the realm while a traveler/listener recoils, illustrating the karmic result of regretful giving.
FAQs
Dāna (charity) must be given with a clean heart; regretted giving weakens merit and binds one to darker states.
No tīrtha is praised in this verse; it is a karmic-cosmological explanation within the Kāśī Khaṇḍa narrative.
It implies a rule for dāna: give without remorse or repeated lamentation after giving.