Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 9
अतः कृच्छ्रं गतः सर्वो लोकः क्षुत्परिपीडितः । चामुंडासदृशो जातो यो न मृत्युवशंगतः
ataḥ kṛcchraṃ gataḥ sarvo lokaḥ kṣutparipīḍitaḥ | cāmuṃḍāsadṛśo jāto yo na mṛtyuvaśaṃgataḥ
پس ساری رعایا سخت مصیبت میں پڑ گئی، بھوک سے ستائی ہوئی؛ جو موت کے قبضے میں نہ آیا وہ بھی زندہ چامُنڈا کی مانند دبلا اور ہڈیوں کا ڈھانچا بن گیا۔
Sūta (narrator)
Scene: Starving townspeople with hollow cheeks and protruding ribs, carrying empty bowls; a haunting comparison to Cāmuṇḍā—skeletal, fierce—evoked as a metaphor of living death.
FAQs
Worldly security is fragile; collective suffering drives beings toward refuge in dharma, devotion, and sacred means of purification and restoration.
No tīrtha is named in this verse; it intensifies the crisis that will be resolved through the power of the tīrtha narrative.
None; it is a descriptive verse portraying famine and mortality.