Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 130

Devanagari script

अपराधसहस्रं तु नश्येत्तस्य समर्चनात्

Transliteration

aparādhasahasraṃ tu naśyettasya samarcanāt

Translation

En vérité, par l’adoration accomplie selon la règle envers Lui (ou ce sanctuaire), mille offenses sont anéanties.

Word by Word

• aparādhasahasram: a thousand offenses
• aparādhasahasram: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: aparādha (प्रातिपदिक) + sahasra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष-समास (षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष: ‘अपराधानां सहस्रम्’); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया (1/2), एकवचन (neuter nom/acc sg)

• tu: indeed; but
• tu: Sambandha (Discourse particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tu (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; विरोध/अन्वयबोधक (particle: but/indeed)

• naśyet: would perish; would be destroyed
• naśyet: Kriyā (Predicate/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: naś (√नश्, धातु)
• Form: लोट्/विधिलिङ् (optative), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद (may perish/be destroyed)

• tasya: of that; of him/it
• tasya: Sambandha (Genitive relation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं/नपुंसक, षष्ठी (6), एकवचन (genitive singular)

• samarcanāt: from proper worship
• samarcanāt: Hetu (Cause/हेतु)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sam + arc (√अर्च्, धातु) + ana (प्रत्यय)
• Form: कृदन्त-भाववाचक (ल्युट्/अन-प्रत्ययान्त ‘अर्चन’); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, पञ्चमी (5), एकवचन (ablative singular: ‘from/by’)

Speaker

Skanda

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: (Contextual) shrine under discussion in Kāśīkhaṇḍa 47

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Pilgrim-seeker interlocutor

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A devotee offers flowers, bilva leaves, incense, and lamp to a Śiva-liṅga; a subtle visual motif of dark knots (offences) dissolving into light as worship is completed.

Characters & Entities

• (unspecified) liṅga/deity of the immediately preceding context
• Kāśī (Vārāṇasī)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Sincere worship in a sanctified Śaiva context is upheld as a powerful means of purification and moral restoration.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The verse refers to the shrine/deity under discussion in Adhyāya 47; within the Kāśī-sthala framework, it applies to the immediately described liṅga/tīrtha.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Samarcana—proper worship/adoration (offerings, reverence, and ritual attention).