Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 2

Devanagari script

शृणु तस्यैव माहात्म्यं यथा जातं धरातले

Transliteration

śṛṇu tasyaiva māhātmyaṃ yathā jātaṃ dharātale

Translation

Écoute maintenant la grandeur de ce tīrtha même, et comment il advint à la surface de la terre.

Word by Word

• शृणु: listen
• शृणु: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: श्रु (धातु)
• Form: लोट् (Imperative/लोट्), मध्यमपुरुष (2nd), एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• तस्य: of that (place/thing)
• तस्य: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं/नपुंसक, षष्ठी (6th/षष्ठी), एकवचन; सम्बन्ध (genitive)

• एव: indeed
• एव: Sambandha (Emphasis/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (निश्चय/अवधारण particle)

• माहात्म्यम्: glory
• माहात्म्यम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: माहात्म्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; कर्म (object of शृणु)

• यथा: as
• यथा: Sambandha (Manner/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (उपमान/प्रकार adverb: ‘as/how’)

• जातम्: arose / happened
• जातम्: Kriya (Result state/क्रिया-भाव)
• Type: Verb
• Root: जन् (धातु) + जात (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: भूतकृदन्त (क्त/PPP), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; ‘भूतम्/उत्पन्नम्’

• धरातले: on the earth’s surface
• धरातले: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: धरा-तल (प्रातिपदिक; धरा + तल)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th), एकवचन; अधिकरण

Speaker

Śiva (Īśvara)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (tīrtha within Prabhāsa cycle)

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Devī (addressed as ‘devī’, ‘priye’)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A narrator invites the listener to hear the greatness and earthly origin of a Prabhāsa tīrtha; the scene is a calm, anticipatory kathā-setting near a sacred coast/temple precinct.

Characters & Entities

• Mahāprabhāsa (implied tīrtha)
• Dharā (earth)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Māhātmya literature grounds devotion in sacred history, teaching that tīrthas are divine manifestations with purposeful origins.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The tīrtha just named—Mahāprabhāsa—whose origin and glory are about to be narrated.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None explicitly; it introduces a tīrtha-origin narration.