Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 14
दुर्वासा उवाच । विद्यामदो धनमदस्तृतीयोऽभिजनोद्भवः । एते मदावलिप्तानामेत एव सतां दमाः
durvāsā uvāca | vidyāmado dhanamadastṛtīyo'bhijanodbhavaḥ | ete madāvaliptānāmeta eva satāṃ damāḥ
দুর্বাসা বললেন—বিদ্যার গর্ব, ধনের গর্ব, এবং তৃতীয়ত উচ্চকুলজাত গর্ব—এগুলোই অহংকারীদের কলুষিত করা মত্ততা; আর সজ্জনদের কাছে এগুলিই সংযমের উপায়।
Durvāsā
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka et al. (typical frame; not explicit here)
Scene: Durvāsā, now composed yet stern, instructs assembled brāhmaṇas; three symbolic objects appear—palm-leaf manuscript (vidyā), coin-pot (dhana), and ancestral emblem (kula)—shown as either intoxicating fumes or transformed into a yoke of discipline.
FAQs
The same advantages—learning, wealth, and lineage—become downfall when they generate pride, but become virtues when governed by humility and self-restraint.
This verse functions as a dharma-teaching within the Nāgara-khaṇḍa’s Tīrtha-māhātmya narrative; the specific tīrtha is not named in this single verse.
No specific rite is prescribed here; the emphasis is ethical discipline (dama) rather than a ritual act.
Ask anything about this verse
Curious about the meaning, context, or a word? Ask, and continue the conversation in the Vedapath app.
A free Google sign-in keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Skanda Purana in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with audio, word-by-word meanings, and more.