Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 51

Devanagari script

गोघ्नश्चैव कृतघ्नश्च सुरापो गुरुत ल्पगः । ब्रह्महा हेमहारी च ह्यथवा वृषलीपतिः

Transliteration

goghnaścaiva kṛtaghnaśca surāpo guruta lpagaḥ | brahmahā hemahārī ca hyathavā vṛṣalīpatiḥ

Translation

Même un tueur de vache, un ingrat, un buveur d’alcool, celui qui profane le lit du maître, un meurtrier de brāhmaṇa, un voleur d’or—ou celui qui fréquente les déchus—est purifié par cette récitation.

Word by Word

• goghnaḥ: a cow-slayer
• goghnaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: go (प्रातिपदिक) + ghnin/ghna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन — ‘goṃ hanti’ (cow-killer)

• ca: and
• ca: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयार्थक

• eva: indeed
• eva: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; अवधारणार्थक-निपात (emphatic particle)

• kṛtaghnaḥ: an ingrate
• kṛtaghnaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kṛta (प्रातिपदिक) + ghna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘kṛtaṃ (upakāraṃ) hanti’ (ingrate)

• ca: and
• ca: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयार्थक

• surāpaḥ: a liquor-drinker
• surāpaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: surā (प्रातिपदिक) + pa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘surāṃ pibati’ (drinker of liquor)

• guru-talpa-gaḥ: one who violates the guru’s bed
• guru-talpa-gaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: guru (प्रातिपदिक) + talpa (प्रातिपदिक) + ga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘guroḥ talpaṃ gacchati’ (violator of the teacher’s bed; grave sinner)

• brahmahā: a Brahmin-slayer
• brahmahā: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: brahman (प्रातिपदिक) + han (हन् धातु से निष्पन्न प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘brāhmaṇaṃ hanti’ (slayer of a Brahmin)

• hemahārī: a gold-stealer
• hemahārī: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: hema (प्रातिपदिक) + hārin (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘hemaṃ harati’ (stealer of gold)

• ca: and
• ca: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयार्थक

• hi: indeed/for
• hi: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: hi (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; हेत्वर्थ/निश्चयार्थक-निपात (particle: for/indeed)

• athavā: or else
• athavā: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: athavā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; विकल्पार्थक (or else)

• vṛṣalī-patiḥ: husband of a vṛṣalī
• vṛṣalī-patiḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vṛṣalī (प्रातिपदिक) + pati (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘vṛṣalyāḥ patiḥ’ (husband of a śūdra/low-caste woman)

Speaker

Dharma-rāja (Yama) (deduced: continuation of the phalaśruti about the forty names)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Dharmāraṇya

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Practitioner/audience

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A group of remorseful sinners—cow-slayer, drunkard, betrayer of guru, gold-thief—stand at a shrine threshold; a priest/devotee teaches them the forty names; as they chant, dark stains (symbolic pāpa) dissolve into light around a Śiva-liṅga.

Characters & Entities

• Śiva (implied as the object of recitation)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

The Purāṇic emphasis is that sincere devotion and sacred-name practice can purify even severe moral transgressions.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No single tirtha is named in this verse; the teaching appears within the Dharmāraṇya narrative framework.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Implicitly, recitation/hearing of the stated divine names functions as a prāyaścitta (expiatory) practice.