Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 21
स्त्रीशूद्राणां तदर्धं च तदर्ध बालवृद्धयोः । मृन्मयानां च भांडानां परित्यागो निवेदितः
strīśūdrāṇāṃ tadardhaṃ ca tadardha bālavṛddhayoḥ | mṛnmayānāṃ ca bhāṃḍānāṃ parityāgo niveditaḥ
عورتوں اور شودروں کے لیے اس (پراَیَشچت) کا آدھا بتایا گیا، اور بچوں اور بوڑھوں کے لیے اس کا بھی آدھا۔ نیز مٹی کے برتنوں کو ترک کرنا بھی مقرر کیا گیا۔
Unspecified narrator
Type: kshetra
Scene: A household scene: elders advise that women and śūdras undertake half-penance; children and the aged are shown resting; attendants carry away cracked earthen pots to be discarded outside the settlement.
FAQs
Dharma applies with discernment: austerities are adjusted according to capacity and vulnerability, while maintaining the aim of purity.
The verse is part of Nāgarakhaṇḍa’s Tīrthamāhātmya; it addresses purification practice rather than a named tīrtha.
Reduced (fractional) penances for women/śūdras and further reduction for children/elderly, plus discarding earthen utensils.