Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 84

Devanagari script

वेदविक्रयकर्तारो ब्राह्मणाः शौचवर्जिताः

Transliteration

vedavikrayakartāro brāhmaṇāḥ śaucavarjitāḥ

Translation

“Para Brāhmaṇa akan menjadi penjual Veda, tanpa kesucian dan tanpa menjaga kebersihan yang sewajarnya.”

Word by Word

• वेदविक्रयकर्तारः: sellers of the Veda
• वेदविक्रयकर्तारः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वेद + विक्रय + कर्तृ (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: कर्तृवाचक-तृप्रत्यय; पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा-बहुवचन (Nominative plural); तत्पुरुष (determinative: “sellers of the Veda”)

• ब्राह्मणाः: Brahmins
• ब्राह्मणाः: Karta (Apposition/समानााधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ब्राह्मण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा-बहुवचन (Nominative plural)

• शौचवर्जिताः: devoid of cleanliness/purity
• शौचवर्जिताः: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शौच + वर्जित (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: भूतकृदन्त (past participle); पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा-बहुवचन (Nominative plural); तत्पुरुष (determinative: “devoid of purity”)

Speaker

Unknown (contextual narrator in Nāgarakhaṇḍa; speaker not explicit in the snippet)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A teacher in a marketplace exchanging palm-leaf Veda manuscripts for coins; nearby, a neglected ritual space with scattered vessels; in the background, a tīrtha shrine stands as silent witness.

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Sacred knowledge should not be commodified; purity (śauca) and integrity are essential for custodians of dharma.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

None is named in this verse; it is a general Kali-yuga critique within a tīrtha-mahātmya chapter.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No rite is prescribed; the verse condemns veda-vikraya and the loss of śauca.