Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 22

Devanagari script

षष्टि तीर्थसहस्राणि षष्टिकोटिशतानि च । द्वारकामध्यसंस्थानि कथं न्यक्कृतवान्हरिः

Transliteration

ṣaṣṭi tīrthasahasrāṇi ṣaṣṭikoṭiśatāni ca | dvārakāmadhyasaṃsthāni kathaṃ nyakkṛtavānhariḥ

Translation

«Dans Dvārakā sont établis soixante mille tīrthas et encore six cents millions de plus ; comment Hari les a-t-il tenus pour moindres (et préféré Prabhāsa) ?»

Word by Word

• षष्टि: sixty
• षष्टि: Karma (Quantifier/कर्म-विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: षष्टि (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: संख्यावाचक; अव्ययवत् प्रयोगः/अव्यक्त-विभक्ति; ‘तīर्थसहस्राणि’ इत्यस्य विशेषणम्

• तीर्थ-सहस्राणि: thousands of tīrthas
• तीर्थ-सहस्राणि: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तीर्थ (प्रातिपदिक) + सहस्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (तीर्थाणां सहस्राणि); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन

• षष्टि-कोटि-शतानि: sixty crores of hundreds (vast numbers)
• षष्टि-कोटि-शतानि: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: षष्टि (संख्या) + कोटि (प्रातिपदिक) + शत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: द्विगु-समास (संख्यापूर्वक); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन; ‘sixty crores of hundreds’ (बहुसंख्यक-समूह)

• च: and
• च: Sambandha (Conjunction/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चयार्थक-अव्यय (conjunction)

• द्वारका-मध्य-संस्थानि: situated in the midst of Dvārakā
• द्वारका-मध्य-संस्थानि: Karma (Qualifier/कर्म-विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: द्वारका (प्रातिपदिक) + मध्य (प्रातिपदिक) + संस्थ (कृदन्त/प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष-समास (द्वारकायाः मध्ये संस्थानि); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन; ‘तीर्थ…’ इत्यस्य विशेषणम्

• कथम्: how
• कथम्: Sambandha (Question/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: कथम् (अव्यय)
• Form: प्रश्नार्थक-अव्यय (interrogative adverb)

• न्यक्कृतवान्: made (them) inferior / surpassed
• न्यक्कृतवान्: Kriya (Predicate/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: नि + अङ्/अञ्च् (धातु) → न्यक्कृ (धातु-समास)
• Form: कृत्-प्रत्ययान्त ‘क्तवत्’ (past active participle); पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; ‘having made inferior/overpowered’

• हरिः: Hari (Viṣṇu)
• हरिः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: हरि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

Speaker

Devī (Pārvatī)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Dvārakā (as tīrtha-samūha) and Prabhāsa (as superior kṣetra)

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A rhetorical marvel: the speaker evokes vast numbers of tīrthas within Dvārakā and asks how Hari could deem them lesser than Prabhāsa; imagery can show a map-like sacred city filled with shrines, contrasted with a single radiant kṣetra.

Characters & Entities

• Devī
• Hari (Viṣṇu)
• Dvārakā
• Prabhāsa-kṣetra
• Tīrthas

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Purāṇic sacred geography teaches that spiritual potency is not only in number of tīrthas but in divine purpose and the unique māhātmya of a kṣetra.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Prabhāsa-kṣetra is implied to surpass even the multitude of Dvārakā’s tīrthas in a particular divine context.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None directly; it frames a comparative tīrtha-māhātmya inquiry.