Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 17

Devanagari script

जनार्दन जगन्नाथ जाह्नवीजलजन्मभूः । जन्मिनां जन्महरण जंजपूकाघनाशन

Transliteration

janārdana jagannātha jāhnavījalajanmabhūḥ | janmināṃ janmaharaṇa jaṃjapūkāghanāśana

Translation

Ô Janārdana, Seigneur de l’univers ; Toi dont la manifestation est liée aux eaux de la Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā) ; Toi qui ôtes les renaissances des êtres incarnés ; destructeur des amas épais d’impureté !

Word by Word

• janārdana: O Janārdana
• janārdana: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: jana (प्रातिपदिक) + ardana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (8th/सम्बोधन), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समासः (जनानाम् अर्दनः)

• jagannātha: O Lord of the universe
• jagannātha: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: jagat (प्रातिपदिक) + nātha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (8th/सम्बोधन), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समासः (जगतः नाथः)

• jāhnavījalajanmabhūḥ: O one whose birth is in the waters of the Jahnavī (Gaṅgā)
• jāhnavījalajanmabhūḥ: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: jāhnavī (प्रातिपदिक) + jala (प्रातिपदिक) + janma (प्रातिपदिक) + bhū (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (8th/सम्बोधन), एकवचन; बहुपद-तत्पुरुषः (जाह्नवी-जल-जन्म-भूः = जाह्नव्याः जले जन्म यस्य)

• janminām: of the born beings
• janminām: Sambandha (Genitive/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: janmin (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग (सामान्यतः), षष्ठी (6th/षष्ठी), बहुवचन; ‘जन्मिन्’ = जन्मयुक्ताः (embodied beings)

• janmaharaṇa: O remover of birth (rebirth)
• janmaharaṇa: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: janma (प्रातिपदिक) + haraṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग/नपुंसकलिङ्ग (प्रयोगे नामरूपम्), सम्बोधन (8th/सम्बोधन), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समासः (जन्मनः हरणम्/हरः)

• jaṃjapūkāghanāśana: O destroyer of Jaṃjapūka’s sin/evil
• jaṃjapūkāghanāśana: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: jaṃjapūka (प्रातिपदिक) + agha (प्रातिपदिक) + nāśana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (8th/सम्बोधन), एकवचन; बहुपद-तत्पुरुषः (जंजपूक-अघ-नाशनः = जंजपूकस्य अघं नाशयति)

Speaker

Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā) in Kāśī

Type: ghat

Visual Art Cues

Scene: At dawn on a Kāśī ghat, Gaṅgā flows with mist; a devotee offers arghya while envisioning Jagannātha/Janārdana as the cosmic lord whose grace dissolves the darkness of impurity and the cycle of births.

Characters & Entities

• Viṣṇu
• Janārdana
• Jagannātha
• Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Hari is praised as the power that ends saṃsāra (repeated birth) and dissolves accumulated sin—linking devotion with liberation.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Kāśī is the narrative setting, and the Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā) is explicitly invoked as a sacred purifier central to Kāśī’s sanctity.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No explicit rite is commanded; the devotional act is nāma-ucchāraṇa (uttering divine names), implicitly aligned with Gaṅgā-associated purity.