Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 26
नारायणेन सहितं नरं नरकनिर्भयम् । दुर्योधनेन सहिता बांधवास्ते यतो हताः । पितृतुल्याश्च राजानस्तेन वै पापभाजनम्
nārāyaṇena sahitaṃ naraṃ narakanirbhayam | duryodhanena sahitā bāṃdhavāste yato hatāḥ | pitṛtulyāśca rājānastena vai pāpabhājanam
“那罗——与那罗延同在，连地狱亦无所惧——被归咎：因你与都律约陀那结盟的亲族被杀，许多如父之王亦遭诛；故他确被视为罪业之器。”
Śiva (Īśvara) (narrating; reporting the rationale given)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (implied chapter setting)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A tense post-war moral reckoning: Nara with Nārāyaṇa nearby; the speaker indicts him as a ‘vessel of sin’ due to the slaughter of kinsmen and elder-like kings allied with Duryodhana.
FAQs
The verse highlights how outcomes of conflict generate accusations of sin, pointing to the Purāṇic need for discernment and subsequent atonement practices.
The account unfolds within Prabhāsa-kṣetra’s māhātmya, where such moral burdens are ultimately resolved through tīrtha-centered purification.
No explicit prescription is stated in this verse; it provides the stated ‘reason’ for considering someone pāpabhājana, leading into prāyaścitta teaching.