Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 72
संप्रधार्येति तेप्राहुः स्मर्तव्यं स्मर पांथिक । त्वां वयं घातयिष्यामो निश्चितं सपरिच्छदम्
saṃpradhāryeti teprāhuḥ smartavyaṃ smara pāṃthika | tvāṃ vayaṃ ghātayiṣyāmo niścitaṃ saparicchadam
Họ nói: “Hãy ghi nhớ lời ‘đã suy xét’ này—hãy nhớ cho kỹ, hỡi lữ khách. Chúng ta nhất định sẽ giết ngươi, và sẽ lấy ngươi cùng toàn bộ của cải.”
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (implicit via contrast)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and sages
Scene: A bandit leader leans close, mocking the traveler: ‘remember your deliberation’; the captive’s eyes turn inward as if searching for a saving remembrance amid the threat of death.
FAQs
A single wrong deliberation can become a lifelong (and life-ending) turning point; choices made away from dharma bear harsh fruit.
Kāśī is glorified indirectly, as the narrative implies that abandoning Kāśī leads into a chain of calamities.
None directly; the verse uses dramatic speech to imprint a moral warning.