Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 96

Devanagari script

वापीकूपतडागेषु यत्रयत्र जलं द्विजाः । तत्रतत्र नरः स्नातः सर्वपापैः प्रमुच्यते

Transliteration

vāpīkūpataḍāgeṣu yatrayatra jalaṃ dvijāḥ | tatratatra naraḥ snātaḥ sarvapāpaiḥ pramucyate

Translation

يا معشرَ ذوي الميلادين (دڤيجا)، حيثما وُجد الماء—في الآبار المدرّجة أو الآبار أو البرك—فمن اغتسل هناك انعتق من جميع الآثام.

Word by Word

• वापी-कूप-तडागेषु: in wells, ponds, and tanks
• वापी-कूप-तडागेषु: Adhikarana (Locus)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वापी (प्रातिपदिक) + कूप (प्रातिपदिक) + तडाग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: द्वन्द्व-समासः (समाहार/इतरेतर), पुंलिङ्ग/नपुंसकलिङ्ग-प्रयोगः; सप्तमी (7th/अधिकरण), बहुवचन

• यत्र-यत्र: wherever
• यत्र-यत्र: Adhikarana (Place)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यत्र (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय, देशवाचक; पुनरुक्ति (wherever)

• जलम्: water
• जलम्: Karta (Subject of implied ‘is’)
• Type: Noun
• Root: जल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; अस्ति-लुप्ते वाक्ये ‘जलम् (अस्ति)’

• द्विजाः: O Brahmins (twice-born)
• द्विजाः: Sambodhana/Address (Vocative sense)
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्विज (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; सम्बोधनार्थे अपि (O twice-born)

• तत्र-तत्र: there, in each such place
• तत्र-तत्र: Adhikarana (Place)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तत्र (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय, देशवाचक; पुनरुक्ति (there and there/wherever there)

• नरः: a man
• नरः: Karta (Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• स्नातः: having bathed
• स्नातः: Karta (Agent, participial)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: स्ना (धातु) → स्नात (कृदन्त, क्त)
• Form: कृदन्त (क्त-प्रत्ययान्त), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; कर्तरि-प्रयोगः ‘having bathed’

• सर्व-पापैः: from all sins
• सर्व-पापैः: Apadana (Separation)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सर्व (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक) + पाप (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: कर्मधारय-समासः; नपुंसकलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/करण) बहुवचन; अपादानार्थे तृतीया (from all sins)

• प्रमुच्यते: is freed/released
• प्रमुच्यते: Kriya (Action)
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र-मुच् (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (Present), आत्मनेपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; कर्मणि/भावे प्रयोगः ‘is released’

Speaker

Narratorial voice (Sūta implied by Māhātmya context)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra waters (vāpi-kūpa-taḍāga)

Type: kund

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Dvijas (addressed: ‘dvijāḥ’)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: Multiple water-sites within a sacred field—stepwell, well, and pond—each hosting devotees bathing; priests chant; the landscape signals that ‘wherever there is water, there is purification’.

Characters & Entities

• Dvija (twice-born)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Contact with sacred water through bathing is presented as a powerful purifier that removes accumulated sin.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The waters found within the Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra (as described in Adhyāya 26 of Nāgara Khaṇḍa).

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Snāna (ritual bathing) in any available water source of the kṣetra—stepwell, well, or pond.