Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 51

Devanagari script

गोघ्नश्चैव कृतघ्नश्च सुरापो गुरुत ल्पगः । ब्रह्महा हेमहारी च ह्यथवा वृषलीपतिः

Transliteration

goghnaścaiva kṛtaghnaśca surāpo guruta lpagaḥ | brahmahā hemahārī ca hyathavā vṛṣalīpatiḥ

Translation

गोहंता, कृतघ्न, मद्यपायी, गुरुतल्पगामी, ब्राह्मणहंता, सुवर्णचोर—किंवा पतित स्त्रीसंग करणारा देखील (त्या जपाने) शुद्ध होतो.

Word by Word

• goghnaḥ: a cow-slayer
• goghnaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: go (प्रातिपदिक) + ghnin/ghna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन — ‘goṃ hanti’ (cow-killer)

• ca: and
• ca: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयार्थक

• eva: indeed
• eva: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; अवधारणार्थक-निपात (emphatic particle)

• kṛtaghnaḥ: an ingrate
• kṛtaghnaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kṛta (प्रातिपदिक) + ghna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘kṛtaṃ (upakāraṃ) hanti’ (ingrate)

• ca: and
• ca: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयार्थक

• surāpaḥ: a liquor-drinker
• surāpaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: surā (प्रातिपदिक) + pa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘surāṃ pibati’ (drinker of liquor)

• guru-talpa-gaḥ: one who violates the guru’s bed
• guru-talpa-gaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: guru (प्रातिपदिक) + talpa (प्रातिपदिक) + ga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘guroḥ talpaṃ gacchati’ (violator of the teacher’s bed; grave sinner)

• brahmahā: a Brahmin-slayer
• brahmahā: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: brahman (प्रातिपदिक) + han (हन् धातु से निष्पन्न प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘brāhmaṇaṃ hanti’ (slayer of a Brahmin)

• hemahārī: a gold-stealer
• hemahārī: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: hema (प्रातिपदिक) + hārin (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘hemaṃ harati’ (stealer of gold)

• ca: and
• ca: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयार्थक

• hi: indeed/for
• hi: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: hi (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; हेत्वर्थ/निश्चयार्थक-निपात (particle: for/indeed)

• athavā: or else
• athavā: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: athavā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; विकल्पार्थक (or else)

• vṛṣalī-patiḥ: husband of a vṛṣalī
• vṛṣalī-patiḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vṛṣalī (प्रातिपदिक) + pati (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘vṛṣalyāḥ patiḥ’ (husband of a śūdra/low-caste woman)

Speaker

Dharma-rāja (Yama) (deduced: continuation of the phalaśruti about the forty names)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Dharmāraṇya

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Practitioner/audience

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A group of remorseful sinners—cow-slayer, drunkard, betrayer of guru, gold-thief—stand at a shrine threshold; a priest/devotee teaches them the forty names; as they chant, dark stains (symbolic pāpa) dissolve into light around a Śiva-liṅga.

Characters & Entities

• Śiva (implied as the object of recitation)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

The Purāṇic emphasis is that sincere devotion and sacred-name practice can purify even severe moral transgressions.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No single tirtha is named in this verse; the teaching appears within the Dharmāraṇya narrative framework.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Implicitly, recitation/hearing of the stated divine names functions as a prāyaścitta (expiatory) practice.