Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 2

Devanagari script

यदाऽरण्यमनुप्राप्ताः पांडवाः पृथिवीतले । भ्रममाणा महादेवि प्रभासं क्षेत्रमागताः

Transliteration

yadā'raṇyamanuprāptāḥ pāṃḍavāḥ pṛthivītale | bhramamāṇā mahādevi prabhāsaṃ kṣetramāgatāḥ

Translation

«Lorsque les Pāṇḍava, sur la terre, entrèrent dans la forêt et errèrent çà et là, ô Mahādevī, ils parvinrent au kṣetra sacré de Prabhāsa.»

Word by Word

• yadā: when
• yadā: Sambandha (Time/काल)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yadā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; कालवाचक (temporal conjunction) = when

• araṇyam: forest
• araṇyam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: araṇya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; गत्यर्थक क्रियायाः कर्म (destination)

• anuprāptāḥ: having reached
• anuprāptāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: anu-pra-āp (धातु)
• Form: कृदन्त; भूतकृत् (क्त) = past participle; पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन; agrees with pāṇḍavāḥ; ‘having reached’

• pāṇḍavāḥ: the Pāṇḍavas
• pāṇḍavāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pāṇḍava (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन

• pṛthivī-tale: on the earth’s surface
• pṛthivī-tale: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pṛthivī (प्रातिपदिक) + tala (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th), एकवचन; ‘on the surface of the earth’; compound: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (pṛthivyāḥ talaṃ)

• bhramamāṇāḥ: wandering
• bhramamāṇāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: bhram (धातु)
• Form: कृदन्त; वर्तमानकृदन्त (शतृ/शानच्) = present participle (आत्मनेपद-शानच्); पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन; agrees with pāṇḍavāḥ; ‘wandering’

• mahādevi: O great goddess
• mahādevi: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahādevī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (8th), एकवचन

• prabhāsam: Prabhāsa
• prabhāsam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: prabhāsa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; destination/object with āgatāḥ

• kṣetram: sacred region
• kṣetram: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kṣetra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; apposition to prabhāsam

• āgatāḥ: arrived
• āgatāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ā-gam (धातु)
• Form: कृदन्त; भूतकृत् (क्त) = past participle; पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन; agrees with pāṇḍavāḥ; ‘having come/arrived’

Speaker

Īśvara (Śiva)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Mahādevī

Visual Art Cues

Scene: The Pāṇḍavas, travel-worn, enter the luminous Prabhāsa field after wandering forests; Draupadī and brothers with bows, dusted garments, approaching a sacred coastal/temple landscape.

Characters & Entities

• Pāṇḍavas
• Mahādevī (Pārvatī)
• Prabhāsa-kṣetra

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Even amid exile and hardship, the righteous are guided toward tīrthas—suggesting that sacred places become refuges that reorient life toward dharma.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Prabhāsa-kṣetra (the sacred region of Prabhāsa).

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No explicit rite is stated here; it establishes the tīrtha-arrival narrative that supports subsequent acts like snāna and worship.