Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 6

Devanagari script

स्वपता भवता रात्रौ तुर्ये यामे महाह्रदः । अदर्शि तत्र च भवान्मज्जन्मज्जंस्तटंगतः

Transliteration

svapatā bhavatā rātrau turye yāme mahāhradaḥ | adarśi tatra ca bhavānmajjanmajjaṃstaṭaṃgataḥ

Translation

রাত্রে নিদ্রিত অবস্থায়, চতুর্থ যামে, আপনি এক মহাহ্রদ দেখেছেন; সেখানে আপনাকে বারংবার ডুব দিয়ে আবার তীরে উঠতে দেখা গেছে।

Word by Word

• svapatā: by you (while) sleeping
• svapatā: Karta (Agent in passive sense)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √svap (धातु); svapat (कृदन्त)
• Form: Present active participle (शतृ) used substantively, Masculine, Instrumental (3rd), Singular; ‘by you while sleeping’

• bhavatā: by you
• bhavatā: Karta (Agent in passive sense)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bhavat (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Pronoun (honorific ‘you’), Masculine, Instrumental (3rd), Singular

• rātrau: at night
• rātrau: Adhikaraṇa (Time)
• Type: Noun
• Root: rātri (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Locative (7th), Singular

• turye: in the fourth
• turye: Viśeṣaṇa (qualifier of time-location)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: turya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Locative (7th), Singular; ordinal adjective qualifying yāme

• yāme: watch (of the night)
• yāme: Adhikaraṇa (Time)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yāma (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Locative (7th), Singular; a watch/period of night

• mahā-hradaḥ: a great lake
• mahā-hradaḥ: Karta (Subject of passive ‘was seen’)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahā (प्रातिपदिक) + hrada (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative (1st), Singular; कर्मधारय: ‘mahān hradaḥ’

• adarśi: was seen
• adarśi: Kriyā (Main verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √dṛś (धातु)
• Form: Luṅ (Aorist), Ātmanepada (आत्मनेपद), 3rd Person, Singular; passive/intransitive sense ‘was seen/appeared’

• tatra: there
• tatra: Adhikaraṇa (Location)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tatra (अव्यय)
• Form: Adverb of place (देशवाचक-अव्यय)

• ca: and
• ca: Samuccaya (Connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: Conjunction/particle (समुच्चय)

• bhavān: you
• bhavān: Karta (Subject of implied ‘were’)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bhavat (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Pronoun (honorific ‘you’), Masculine, Nominative (1st), Singular

• majjan: diving
• majjan: Karta-viśeṣaṇa
• Type: Verb
• Root: √majj (धातु); majjat (कृदन्त)
• Form: Present active participle (शतृ), Masculine, Nominative (1st), Singular; ‘diving/sinking’

• majjan: diving again
• majjan: Karta-viśeṣaṇa
• Type: Verb
• Root: √majj (धातु); majjat (कृदन्त)
• Form: Present active participle (शतृ), Masculine, Nominative (1st), Singular; repetition for iterative sense

• taṭam: the bank/shore
• taṭam: Karma (Goal)
• Type: Noun
• Root: taṭa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Accusative (2nd), Singular

• gataḥ: having reached
• gataḥ: Karta-viśeṣaṇa
• Type: Verb
• Root: √gam (धातु); gata (कृदन्त)
• Form: Past active participle (क्त, गत), Masculine, Nominative (1st), Singular; ‘gone/reached’

Speaker

Gaṇeśa in disguise (dream-explainer)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Mahāhrada (dream-tīrtha within the episode)

Type: kund

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: The addressed householder (bhavān)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A dreamlike great lake under night sky of the fourth watch; the dreamer repeatedly dives and rises, water rippling with luminous lotuses, finally stepping onto the shore as dawn-light begins to appear.

Characters & Entities

• Gaṇeśa (implied)
• People of Kāśī

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Repeated immersion and reaching the bank symbolizes cycles of purification and emergence into steadiness—an inner snāna aligned with dharma.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Kāśī contextually, though the verse itself describes a symbolic “great lake” seen in a dream rather than naming a specific kuṇḍa or ghāṭa.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No direct prescription; the imagery evokes bathing (snāna) as symbolism, pending interpretation in subsequent verses.