Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 31
शक्तोऽहं वालखिल्यानां निग्रहं कर्त्तुमञ्जसा । किन्तु मे ब्राह्मणा मान्याः पूज्याश्च सुरसत्तमाः
śakto'haṃ vālakhilyānāṃ nigrahaṃ karttumañjasā | kintu me brāhmaṇā mānyāḥ pūjyāśca surasattamāḥ
میں والکھلیوں کو آسانی سے روک سکتا ہوں۔ لیکن اے دیوتاؤں میں برتر، برہمن میرے نزدیک معزز ہیں اور پوجا کے لائق بھی ہیں۔
Śiva (Śrī Bhagavān)
Tirtha: Arbuda kṣetra (brāhmaṇa-satkara emphasis)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devas/petitioners; Vālakhilyas as the concerned party
Scene: Śiva declares he can restrain the Vālakhilyas but chooses reverence; the tiny ascetic sages stand before him; the mood is ethical gravity and calm authority.
FAQs
Power is subordinated to dharma: even when correction is possible, reverence toward sages and Brahmins is upheld as a moral and social-spiritual principle.
The teaching arises within the Arbuda Khaṇḍa’s Vālakhilyāśrama episode, linking the sanctity of the place with the dignity of its ascetics.
No ritual act is prescribed; the verse prescribes conduct—māna and pūjā toward brāhmaṇas/sages.