Kurma Purana — Uttara Bhaga, Shloka 80

Prāyaścitta for Theft, Forbidden Foods, Impurity, and Ritual Lapses; Tīrtha–Vrata Remedies; Pativratā Mahātmyam via Sītā and Agni

Devanagari script

पङ्क्त्यां विषमदानं तु कृत्वा कृच्छ्रेण शुद्ध्यति / छायां श्वपाकस्यारुह्य स्नात्वा संप्राशयेद् घृतम्

Transliteration

paṅktyāṃ viṣamadānaṃ tu kṛtvā kṛcchreṇa śuddhyati / chāyāṃ śvapākasyāruhya snātvā saṃprāśayed ghṛtam

Translation

ပင်္ကတိ (အတန်းလိုက်ပွဲစား) တွင် အလှူအစားအစာကို မညီမညာ၊ မသင့်တော်စွာ ခွဲဝေခဲ့လျှင် «ကೃစ္ဆရ» အပြစ်ပေးဝတ်ပြုမှုကို ကျင့်၍ သန့်စင်ရသည်။ ထို့နောက် śvapāka (ချန်ဍာလ/အောက်တန်း) ၏ အရိပ်ထဲသို့ ဝင်ပြီး ရေချိုးကာ ဂျီ (သန့်ရှင်းသော ထောပတ်) ကို ပူဇော်သဘောဖြင့် စားသုံးရမည်။

Word by Word

• पङ्क्त्याम्: in a row/line (of diners)
• पङ्क्त्याम्: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पङ्क्ति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (अधिकरण), एकवचन; Locative singular

• विषमदानम्: unequal/irregular giving (of food/charity)
• विषमदानम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: विषम-दान (प्रातिपदिक; समास)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; Accusative singular; (विषमं दानम् = unequal/irregular giving)

• तु: but/indeed
• तु: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु (अव्यय)
• Form: निपात (particle), विरोध/विशेषार्थक; emphatic/contrastive

• कृत्वा: having done
• कृत्वा: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (gerund/absolutive), पूर्वकाल; having done

• कृच्छ्रेण: with hardship/with difficulty
• कृच्छ्रेण: Karana (करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कृच्छ्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग (प्रायः), तृतीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; Instrumental singular; by hardship/with difficulty

• शुद्ध्यति: is purified
• शुद्ध्यति: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: शुध् (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (वर्तमान), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; Present indicative 3rd sg; आत्मनेपद

• छायाम्: (into) the shadow
• छायाम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: छाया (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; Accusative singular

• श्वपाकस्य: of a dog-cooker (outcaste)
• श्वपाकस्य: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्वपाक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी-विभक्ति, एकवचन; Genitive singular

• आरुह्य: having entered (i.e., fallen into)
• आरुह्य: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: आ-रुह् (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (gerund/absolutive), पूर्वकाल; having mounted/entered

• स्नात्वा: having bathed
• स्नात्वा: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्ना (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (gerund/absolutive); having bathed

• संप्राशयेत्: should make (himself) eat / should partake
• संप्राशयेत्: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: सम्-प्र-आश् (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (optative), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; Optative 3rd sg; परस्मैपद; causative sense ‘cause to eat’

• घृतम्: ghee
• घृतम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: घृत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; Accusative singular

Speaker

Sūta (narrator) relaying the Kurma Purana’s dharma-śāstra injunctions on prāyaścitta

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: bibhatsa

Secondary Rasa: shanta

Characters & Entities

• Kṛcchra (penance)
• Paṅkti (row-feast)
• Śvapāka (outcaste/caṇḍāla)
• Ghṛta (ghee)

More Details (4 sections)

FAQs

How does this verse explain the nature of the Supreme Self (Atman)?

It does not teach Ātman metaphysics directly; it frames dharma as inner-and-outer purification, implying that ethical order and self-discipline (prāyaścitta) support clarity needed for higher knowledge.

What Yoga or Meditative practices are highlighted here?

No formal yogic technique is taught; the verse highlights tapas (austerity) through Kṛcchra and ritual cleansing, which function as preparatory disciplines (śuddhi) that traditional Yoga and Pāśupata-oriented practice treat as foundations for steadiness of mind.

How does this verse depict the relationship between Shiva and Vishnu?

Indirectly: the Kurma Purana’s synthesis often places dharma (right conduct and purification) as a shared ground for both Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava paths; this verse contributes that common dharmic framework rather than making an explicit sectarian statement.