Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 54

Devanagari script

तच्छवस्य बहिर्ग्रामा त्क्षिप्तस्य प्रेतकर्मणः । चचार सारमेयोंऽगे भस्मपादो यदृच्छया

Transliteration

tacchavasya bahirgrāmā tkṣiptasya pretakarmaṇaḥ | cacāra sārameyoṃ'ge bhasmapādo yadṛcchayā

Translation

သူ၏အလောင်းကို သေသူအတွက် ထိုက်သင့်သော ပရေတကမ္မ (သင်္ဂြိုဟ်ပူဇော်) မပြုဘဲ ရွာပြင်သို့ ပစ်ချလိုက်ကြသည်။ ထိုအခါ ကံတရားအလိုက် ခြေဖဝါးတွင် ပြာလိမ်းနေသော ခွေးတစ်ကောင်က မတော်တဆ သူ၏ကိုယ်ပေါ်ကို လှည့်လည်နင်းကျော်သွား하였다။

Word by Word

• तत्: of that
• तत्: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), एकवचन; 'शवस्य' इति विशेषणम्

• शवस्य: of the corpse
• शवस्य: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शव (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), एकवचन

• बहिः: outside
• बहिः: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: बहिः (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; देशवाचक क्रियाविशेषण/उपसर्गसदृश (adverb: outside)

• ग्रामात्: from the village
• ग्रामात्: Apadana (Source/अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ग्राम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, पञ्चमी (5th/Ablative), एकवचन

• क्षिप्तस्य: of (it) having been thrown
• क्षिप्तस्य: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Verb
• Root: क्षिप् (धातु)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (past passive participle) 'क्षिप्त'; नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी, एकवचन; 'शवस्य' इति विशेषणम्

• प्रेतकर्मणः: of the funerary rite (rite for the dead)
• प्रेतकर्मणः: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रेत (प्रातिपदिक) + कर्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (प्रेतस्य कर्म)

• चचार: wandered; moved about
• चचार: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: चर् (धातु)
• Form: लिट् (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन, परस्मैपद

• सारमेयः: a dog (offspring of Saramā)
• सारमेयः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सारमेय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन

• अङ्गे: on the body/limb
• अङ्गे: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अङ्ग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th/Locative), एकवचन

• भस्मपादः: one whose feet were (covered with) ash
• भस्मपादः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भस्म (प्रातिपदिक) + पाद (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; बहुव्रीहिः (भस्म पादेषु यस्य सः)

• यदृच्छया: by chance; accidentally
• यदृच्छया: Hetu/Instrument (Cause/Manner/हेतु/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: यदृच्छा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), एकवचन; अव्ययीभावार्थे प्रयोगः (instrumental of manner)

Speaker

Vāmadeva

Tirtha Mahatmya

Type: śmaśāna/liminal-space (implied)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A discarded corpse beyond the village boundary; a wandering dog steps across it, paws dusted with ash, leaving bhasma-marks on the body—an eerie yet providential moment.

Characters & Entities

• Bhasma

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Even unintended contact with a sanctifying substance associated with Śiva (bhasma) is depicted as carrying transformative merit.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No specific location is named; the focus is on the sanctity of bhasma rather than a named pilgrimage site.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

The verse notes the absence of preta-karma (funerary rites), highlighting the corpse’s abandonment; no positive rite is prescribed here.