Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 59

Devanagari script

इदमेव महादानमिदमेव महत्तपः । इदमेव व्रतं श्रेष्ठं यत्काश्यां म्रियते तनुः

Transliteration

idameva mahādānamidameva mahattapaḥ | idameva vrataṃ śreṣṭhaṃ yatkāśyāṃ mriyate tanuḥ

Translation

Dies allein ist die große Gabe; dies allein ist die große Askese; dies allein ist das erhabenste Gelübde: dass der Leib in Kāśī den Tod erfahre.

Word by Word

• idam: this
• idam: Karta (Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: idam (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/कर्ता), एकवचन

• eva: alone/indeed
• eva: Avadhāraṇa (Emphasis)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय, अवधारणार्थक (emphatic/only)

• mahā-dānam: great charity
• mahā-dānam: Pradhāna-nāma (Predicate nominative)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahā (प्रातिपदिक) + dāna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; कर्मधारयः—‘महच्च तत् दानम्’ (a great gift)

• idam: this
• idam: Karta (Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: idam (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• eva: alone/indeed
• eva: Avadhāraṇa (Emphasis)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय, अवधारणार्थक

• mahat: great
• mahat: Viśeṣaṇa (Qualifier of tapaḥ)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: mahat (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; ‘great’

• tapaḥ: austerity
• tapaḥ: Pradhāna-nāma (Predicate nominative)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tapas (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• idam: this
• idam: Karta (Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: idam (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• eva: alone/indeed
• eva: Avadhāraṇa (Emphasis)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय, अवधारणार्थक

• vratam: vow/observance
• vratam: Pradhāna-nāma (Predicate nominative)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vrata (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• śreṣṭham: best
• śreṣṭham: Viśeṣaṇa (Qualifier of vratam)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: śreṣṭha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; ‘best/supreme’

• yat: that (whereby)
• yat: Sambandha (Relative connector)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yat (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; सम्बन्धसूचक (relative pronoun)

• kāśyām: in Kāśī
• kāśyām: Adhikaraṇa (Location)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kāśī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, एकवचन

• mriyate: dies
• mriyate: Kriyā (Predicate)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √mṛ (धातु)
• Form: लट् (present), आत्मनेपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; ‘dies’

• tanuḥ: the body
• tanuḥ: Karta (Subject of mriyate)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tanū (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

Speaker

Narrative voice within the chapter (contextually Viṣṇu’s discourse)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Kāśī

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Sages / devotees seeking the ‘best’ religious act

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A devotee offers the ‘gift’ of the body itself at Kāśī—hands folded, facing Viśveśvara; symbolic scales show dāna, tapas, vrata all outweighed by the single act of dying in Kāśī; Gaṅgā and temple spires frame the scene.

Characters & Entities

• Kāśī

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

The culmination of religious merit is framed as attaining death in Kāśī, equated with the highest charity, austerity, and vow.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), explicitly as the supreme mokṣa-giving field.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

The ‘best vrata’ is stated as the resolve/fortune of dying in Kāśī; no subsidiary ritual steps are specified in this verse.