Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 8
स्त्रीहत्यया समायुक्तस्त्वं च नूनं भविष्यसि । प्रमाणं यदि धर्मोऽत्र स्मृतिशास्त्रसमुद्भवः
strīhatyayā samāyuktastvaṃ ca nūnaṃ bhaviṣyasi | pramāṇaṃ yadi dharmo'tra smṛtiśāstrasamudbhavaḥ
“اور تُو بھی یقیناً عورت کے قتل کے گناہ سے آلودہ ہوگا—اگر اس معاملے میں دھرم کی پیمائش سمرتی شاستروں سے اٹھنے والی حجّت کے مطابق کی جائے۔”
Kāśirāja’s daughter (Amba, implied)
Listener: Audience (implicit)
Scene: Amba’s accusation shifts into a pointed legal-ethical challenge: she invokes Smṛti as a measuring rod, while Bhīṣma stands conflicted, the firelight casting stark shadows like a courtroom of dharma.
FAQs
Dharma is not merely sentiment; it is weighed against recognized ethical standards, and grave harm accrues grave sin.
No tīrtha is named in this verse; it frames the dharma-issue that later turns toward tīrtha-based purification.
None here; the verse establishes the charge of strī-hatyā that motivates later expiatory instruction.