Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 6

Devanagari script

अथाविदूरे क्रोशंतौ धावंतौ द्विजदंपती । अन्वीयमानौ व्याघ्रेण ददर्श नृपसत्तमः

Transliteration

athāvidūre krośaṃtau dhāvaṃtau dvijadaṃpatī | anvīyamānau vyāghreṇa dadarśa nṛpasattamaḥ

Translation

ထို့နောက် အဝေးမဟုတ်သောနေရာတွင် ငိုကြွေးအော်ဟစ်ကာ ပြေးလွှားနေသော ဗြာဟ္မဏ မောင်နှံကို ကျားတစ်ကောင်လိုက်လံနေသည်ကို အကောင်းဆုံးဘုရင်က မြင်တွေ့လေ၏။

Word by Word

• अथ: then
• अथ: Sambandha (Discourse marker)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अथ (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्ययम्; अनुक्रम/आरम्भसूचक (then/now)

• अविदूरे: nearby, not far away
• अविदूरे: Adhikaraṇa (Locative/अधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अविदूर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: अव्ययीभावप्रायम्; सप्तमी-एकवचनरूपेण अव्ययवत् (nearby)

• क्रोशन्तौ: (two) shouting
• क्रोशन्तौ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: क्रुश् (धातु) → क्रोशत् (कृदन्त, शतृ-प्रत्यय)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः (1st/प्रथमा), द्विवचनम्; वर्तमानकाले शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त (shouting)

• धावन्तौ: (two) running
• धावन्तौ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: धाव् (धातु) → धावत् (कृदन्त, शतृ-प्रत्यय)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः (1st/प्रथमा), द्विवचनम्; वर्तमानकाले शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त (running)

• द्विजदम्पती: the brahmin couple (husband and wife)
• द्विजदम्पती: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्विज-दम्पती (प्रातिपदिक; द्विज=brahmin/bird, दम्पती=couple)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः (1st/प्रथमा), द्विवचनम्

• अन्वीयमानौ: being pursued
• अन्वीयमानौ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: अनु + इ (धातु) → अन्वीयमान (कृदन्त, शानच्/मान-प्रत्यय; कर्मणि)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः (1st/प्रथमा), द्विवचनम्; वर्तमानकाले कर्मणि (being pursued/followed)

• व्याघ्रेण: by a tiger
• व्याघ्रेण: Karaṇa (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: व्याघ्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, तृतीया-विभक्तिः (3rd/तृतीया), एकवचनम्; करण/कर्तृ-हेतौ (by)

• ददर्श: saw
• ददर्श: Kriyā (Verb/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: दृश् (धातु)
• Form: लिट्-लकारः (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुषः (3rd person), एकवचनम्; परस्मैपदम्

• नृपसत्तमः: the best of kings
• नृपसत्तमः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नृप-सत्तम (प्रातिपदिक; नृप=king, सत्तम=best)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः (1st/प्रथमा), एकवचनम्

Speaker

Narrator (contextual Purāṇic narrator; likely Sūta/Lomaharṣaṇa addressing sages)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: The king notices nearby a brāhmaṇa husband and wife running, crying, chased by a tiger closing in.

Characters & Entities

• king (nṛpasattama)
• brāhmaṇa couple (dvijadampatī)
• tiger (vyāghra)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

A ruler’s dharma is to protect the vulnerable—especially those seeking refuge—when danger suddenly arises.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No tīrtha is named here; the verse is part of a moral narrative emphasizing protection (rakṣaṇa-dharma).

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; the focus is on immediate ethical duty in a crisis.