Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 43
विश्वस्तघातकानां च यत्पापं समुदाहृतम् । तेन पापेन लिप्यामि यद्यहं नागमे पुनः
viśvastaghātakānāṃ ca yatpāpaṃ samudāhṛtam | tena pāpena lipyāmi yadyahaṃ nāgame punaḥ
اگر میں دوبارہ یہاں نہ آؤں تو جو گناہ اُن لوگوں کے لیے بیان کیا گیا ہے جو اعتماد کرنے والے کو قتل کرتے ہیں، اسی گناہ سے میں آلودہ ہو جاؤں۔
Unspecified (contextual vow/utterance within Arbuda Khaṇḍa narration; likely a pilgrim or narrator-voice within the māhātmya)
Tirtha: Arbuda-kshetra
Type: kshetra
Scene: A pilgrim stands before a sacred marker, declaring that failure to return equals the sin of killing a trusting person. In the background, a symbolic tableau shows a trusting figure offering a hand, and a treacherous figure with a concealed weapon—an allegory of viśvāsa-ghāta.
FAQs
Betrayal of trust is a grievous adharma; the vow intensifies accountability by linking neglect of the tīrtha to the weight of infamous sins.
Arbuda-kṣetra is the implied tīrtha whose sanctity motivates the repeated vow of return.
None explicitly; the verse functions as a moral warning embedded in a pilgrimage vow.