Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 21

Devanagari script

शांतौ शूरा भये दीनाः श्राद्धतर्पणवर्जिताः । असुराचारनिरता विष्णुभक्तिविवर्जिताः

Transliteration

śāṃtau śūrā bhaye dīnāḥ śrāddhatarpaṇavarjitāḥ | asurācāraniratā viṣṇubhaktivivarjitāḥ

Translation

ငြိမ်းချမ်းချိန်တွင် သတ္တိရှိသော်လည်း အန္တရာယ်ကြုံလျှင် အားနည်းသွားမည်; ရှရဒ္ဓနှင့် တർပဏကို စွန့်ပစ်မည်; အဆုရအကျင့်၌ စွဲလမ်း၍ ဗိဿဏုဘက္တိကင်းမဲ့ကြမည်။

Word by Word

• शान्तौ: in peace/time of peace
• शान्तौ: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शान्ति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्गे, सप्तमी-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्

• शूराः: brave
• शूराः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शूर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, बहुवचनम्; विधेय-विशेषणम्

• भये: in fear/danger
• भये: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, सप्तमी-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्

• दीनाः: wretched/cowardly
• दीनाः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दीन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, बहुवचनम्

• श्राद्ध-तर्पण-वर्जिताः: devoid of śrāddha and tarpaṇa rites
• श्राद्ध-तर्पण-वर्जिताः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: श्राद्ध (प्रातिपदिक) + तर्पण (प्रातिपदिक) + वर्जित (√वर्ज् धातु, क्त; प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, बहुवचनम्; समासः—द्वन्द्वपूर्वक-तत्पुरुषः (श्राद्धं च तर्पणं च; ताभ्यां वर्जिताः)

• असुर-आचार-निरताः: engaged in demonic conduct
• असुर-आचार-निरताः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: असुर (प्रातिपदिक) + आचार (प्रातिपदिक) + निरत (नि+√रम् धातु, क्त; प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, बहुवचनम्; समासः—तत्पुरुषः (असुराचारेषु निरताः)

• विष्णु-भक्ति-विवर्जिताः: devoid of devotion to Viṣṇu
• विष्णु-भक्ति-विवर्जिताः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विष्णु (प्रातिपदिक) + भक्ति (प्रातिपदिक) + विवर्जित (वि+√वर्ज् धातु, क्त; प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, बहुवचनम्; समासः—तत्पुरुषः (विष्णुभक्त्या विवर्जिताः)

Speaker

Sūta (deduced; exact speaker not in snippet)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: People boasting in calm times but trembling at a sudden storm; an abandoned śrāddha setup by a riverbank; above, a faint vision of Viṣṇu’s compassionate form receding due to neglect of devotion.

Characters & Entities

• Viṣṇu

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Kali-yuga adharma shows as hypocrisy and loss of devotion; steadiness, bhakti, and honoring ancestors uphold dharma.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No tīrtha is named in this verse.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Śrāddha and tarpaṇa are explicitly mentioned as rites that people abandon.