Shloka 1
भूमिदान-प्रसङ्गः । काश्यपी-पृथिवी तथा उतथ्य-वरुण-संवादः
Land-gift episode; Pṛthivī Kāśyapī; Utathya–Varuṇa dispute
अपन काल छा | अत-७#-र- चतुस्त्रिंशर्दाधिकशततमो< ध्याय: स्कन्ददेवका धर्मसम्बन्धी रहस्य तथा भगवान् विष्णु और भीष्मजीके द्वारा माहात्म्यका वर्णन स्कन्द उवाच ममाप्यनुमतो धर्मस्तं शृणुध्वं समाहिता: । नीलषण्डस्य शुंगाभ्यां गृहीत्वा मृत्तिकां तु यः:
skanda uvāca | mamāpy anumato dharmas taṃ śṛṇudhvaṃ samāhitāḥ | nīlaṣaṇḍasya śuṅgābhyāṃ gṛhītvā mṛttikāṃ tu yaḥ |
Skanda berkata: “Satu bentuk dharma yang turut aku perkenankan akan aku nyatakan sekarang—dengarlah dengan tumpuan yang teguh. Sesiapa yang mengambil tanah liat dengan dua ‘tanduk’ (bahagian yang menonjol) pada gumpalan biru (nīlaṣaṇḍa) …”
स्कन्द उवाच
Educational Q&A
Skanda introduces a dharma (a sanctioned religious-ethical practice) and urges the listeners to receive it with mental composure and attention, indicating that the instruction concerns a specific meritorious act involving taking clay/earth.
Skanda begins an instructional discourse: he announces that he too endorses a particular dharma and starts describing the qualifying action—someone taking clay with the two ‘horns’/tips of a blue clod or mass—setting up the details that continue in the following verse(s).