The present article provides a new assessment of the ritual dedicated to Skanda, the Skandayāga or Dhūrtakalpa, which is described in the chapter XX of the Pariśiṣṭas of the Atharvaveda. First it gives a brief survey of the previous points of view on this text, which understand it as a ritual performed by thieves to honour a malevolent deity. Although these interpretations associated Skanda with his devotees, the devotional aspect of this ritual had not yet been highlighted. The analysis of the hymns dedicated to Skanda reveals that there is an interpersonal relationship between Skanda and the sacrificer who honours him, that the deity is praised as a warrior and martial god and that the aims of the ritual are absolutely not fraudulent acquirements: the devotee wants to gain a powerful status amongst the other devotees and to obtain release and immortality. On this basis, the different arguments of the previous studies which claimed Skanda is the god of thieves through the epithet Dhūrta are reassessed. A philological analysis shows it is possible to understand the epithet in a different manner. This new identification of the god, the aims of the ritual and the use of an amulet allow to determine the status of Skanda’s devotees: they belong to the ruling class. Hence the Skandayāga provides evidence of the emergence of a devotional current within the Atharvavedic environment and the ruling classes.