Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 1

Devanagari script

ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि यत्र न्यंकुमती नदी । मर्यादार्थं समानीता क्षेत्रशांत्यै च शंभुना

Transliteration

īśvara uvāca | tato gacchenmahādevi yatra nyaṃkumatī nadī | maryādārthaṃ samānītā kṣetraśāṃtyai ca śaṃbhunā

Translation

Īśvara sprach: „Dann, o große Göttin, soll man zu dem Ort gehen, wo der Fluss Nyaṅkumatī von Śambhu herbeigeführt wurde, um als heilige Grenze zu dienen und Frieden sowie Heiligkeit des Kṣetra zu bewahren.“

Word by Word

• īśvaraḥ: Īśvara
• īśvaraḥ: Karta (Speaker/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: īśvara (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा (Nominative); एकवचन

• uvāca: said
• uvāca: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: vac (धातु)
• Form: लिट् (Perfect); प्रथमपुरुष (3rd); एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• tataḥ: then
• tataḥ: Kriya-visheshana (Adverbial/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tatas (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; अव्यय-प्रयोगः (adverb: thereafter)

• gacchet: should go
• gacchet: Kriya
• Type: Verb
• Root: gam (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (Optative); प्रथमपुरुष (3rd); एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• mahādevi: O great goddess
• mahādevi: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahā-devī (प्रातिपदिक; महा + देवी)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; सम्बोधन (Vocative); एकवचन

• yatra: where
• yatra: Adhikarana (Relative location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yatra (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; सम्बन्ध-प्रश्न/यद्-शब्द-सम्बद्ध (relative adverb: where)

• nyaṃkumatī: Nyaṃkumatī
• nyaṃkumatī: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: nyaṃkumatī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; प्रथमा (Nominative); एकवचन; नदी-नाम

• nadī: river
• nadī: Apposition (Samānādhikaraṇa/समानाधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: nadī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; प्रथमा (Nominative); एकवचन

• maryādārtham: for the sake of boundary/limit
• maryādārtham: Prayojana (Purpose/प्रयोजन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: maryādā-artha (प्रातिपदिक; मर्यादा + अर्थ)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग/नपुंसकलिङ्ग; द्वितीया (Accusative); एकवचन; प्रयोजनार्थे (purpose)

• samānītā: was brought/led together
• samānītā: Kriya (Predicate participle/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: sam-ā-nī (धातु)
• Form: कृदन्त; क्त-प्रत्ययान्त (past passive participle); स्त्रीलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; एकवचन

• kṣetraśāṃtyai: for the peace of the sacred field
• kṣetraśāṃtyai: Sampradana (Beneficiary/सम्प्रदान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kṣetra-śānti (प्रातिपदिक; क्षेत्र + शान्ति)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; चतुर्थी (Dative); एकवचन

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चय (conjunction)

• śaṃbhunā: by Śambhu (Śiva)
• śaṃbhunā: Karana (Agent-instrument/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: śaṃbhu (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; तृतीया (Instrumental); एकवचन

Speaker

Īśvara (Śiva)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Nyaṅkumatī-nadī

Type: river

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Mahādevī (Pārvatī)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: Śiva instructs Mahādevī to proceed to the river Nyaṅkumatī—shown as a flowing boundary line around the holy field; the river appears as a protective girdle, calming the landscape and demarcating sacred space.

Characters & Entities

• Īśvara (Śiva/Śambhu)
• Mahādevī (Pārvatī)
• Nyaṅkumatī River
• Prabhāsa Kṣetra (implied)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Holy places are protected and ordered through divine arrangement; even rivers can be sanctified as guardians of a kṣetra.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The Nyaṅkumatī river-tīrtha within the sacred landscape of Prabhāsa Kṣetra.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

A pilgrimage directive: one should go to the site of the Nyaṅkumatī river established by Śiva.