Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 84

Devanagari script

अधोमुखे च नरके दीर्घग्रीवप्रपीड्य

Transliteration

adhomukhe ca narake dīrghagrīvaprapīḍya

Translation

आणि अधोमुख नावाच्या नरकात त्यांची लांब मान दाबून चिरडली जाते।

Word by Word

• adho-mukhe: in (the hell called) Adhomukha
• adho-mukhe: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: adhas (अव्यय/प्रातिपदिक) + mukha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग/नपुंसकलिङ्ग (मुख-शब्दः नपुंसकः), सप्तमी-विभक्ति, एकवचन; कर्मधारयसमासः ‘अधः मुखं यस्मिन्’ (नरक-नाम)

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (Connector/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय-अव्यय (conjunction)

• narake: in hell
• narake: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: naraka (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• dīrgha-grīva-prapīḍya: having crushed (by) the long neck / after crushing the long neck
• dīrgha-grīva-prapīḍya: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: dīrgha (प्रातिपदिक) + grīva (प्रातिपदिक) + pra-√pīḍ (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्यय (Gerund/Absolutive) ‘प्रपीड्य’; उपपद-तत्पुरुषसमासः ‘दीर्घग्रीवां प्रपीड्य’

Speaker

Skanda (deduced for Kāśīkhaṇḍa, Skanda → Agastya dialogue context)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A vertical, crushing device in the hell Adhomukha: victims hang or are forced face-down; their long necks are pressed under a heavy beam/stone, conveying the ‘downward’ inversion and suffocation.

Characters & Entities

• Skanda
• Kāśī
• Naraka
• Adhomukha

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Actions generate corresponding results; the Purāṇa uses vivid naraka imagery to cultivate restraint and dharmic living.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Kāśī provides the narrative frame; this fragment is part of a broader karmic teaching rather than a site-glorification.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None in this fragment.