Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 27
ततस्तां विजने प्राप्य गत्वा देशांतरं मुदा । यावत्करोति खंडानि विक्रयार्थं सुनिंदिता । तावदन्वेषमाणास्तां संप्राप्ता नृपसेवकाः
tatastāṃ vijane prāpya gatvā deśāṃtaraṃ mudā | yāvatkaroti khaṃḍāni vikrayārthaṃ suniṃditā | tāvadanveṣamāṇāstāṃ saṃprāptā nṛpasevakāḥ
پھر اسے سنسان جگہ پا کر وہ بہت ملامت زدہ عورت خوشی سے دوسرے دیس کو چلی گئی۔ جب وہ بیچنے کے لیے (سونے کی مورت) کے ٹکڑے کر رہی تھی، اسی وقت اسے ڈھونڈتے ہوئے بادشاہ کے خادم وہاں آ پہنچے۔
Sūta (continuing narration)
Type: temple
Listener: Ṛṣayaḥ
Scene: In a secluded clearing, the woman breaks a golden Gaurī image into pieces with tools, intent on selling; at the edge of the scene, armed royal servants arrive, mid-search, creating a tense moment of imminent confrontation.
FAQs
Desecration and greed (especially involving sacred images) generate severe karmic repercussions, forming the ethical backbone of tīrtha narratives.
The setting is within the adhyāya’s sacred geography; the tīrtha’s splendor is described explicitly in later verses (the pond and environs).
None; it narrates wrongdoing and pursuit.