Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 172

Devanagari script

नो चेत्पापसमाचार संप्राप्स्यसि महाऽपदम्

Transliteration

no cetpāpasamācāra saṃprāpsyasi mahā'padam

Translation

«Sinon, ô toi dont la conduite est pécheresse, tu rencontreras un grand malheur. »

Word by Word

• no: otherwise
• no: Sambandha (Relation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: naḥ (अव्यय/निपात)
• Form: निपात; वाक्यारम्भे ‘otherwise/if not’ अर्थे (often with cet)

• cet: if
• cet: Sambandha (Relation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: cet (अव्यय)
• Form: शर्तार्थक अव्यय (conditional particle)

• pāpa-samācāra: O one of sinful conduct
• pāpa-samācāra: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pāpa (प्रातिपदिक) + samācāra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (8th/सम्बोधन), एकवचन; कर्मधारयः — ‘sinful conduct (one)’; संबोधन-प्रयोगः (vocative address)

• saṃprāpsyasi: you will attain/meet
• saṃprāpsyasi: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: saṃ-pra-āp (धातु)
• Form: लृट् (Simple Future/भविष्यत्), मध्यमपुरुष (2nd person), एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• mahā-apadam: great calamity
• mahā-apadam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahā (प्रातिपदिक) + āpada (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन; कर्मधारयः — ‘great calamity’

Speaker

Wife

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A stern admonition delivered face-to-face: the speaker’s raised finger and intense gaze; the warned person recoils, shadowed by the looming architecture of a sacred precinct, suggesting divine witness.

Characters & Entities

• pāpa
• āpad

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Adharma leads to inevitable suffering; the Purāṇic worldview frames calamity as karmic consequence.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No site is specified in this verse; it functions as a moral warning within the broader tīrtha narrative.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None.