Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 72

Devanagari script

व्रतोत्सर्गं वृषोत्सर्गं लिंगादि स्थापनं तथा । करोति यो महाप्राज्ञो ज्ञात्वायुःक्षणगत्वरम्

Transliteration

vratotsargaṃ vṛṣotsargaṃ liṃgādi sthāpanaṃ tathā | karoti yo mahāprājño jñātvāyuḥkṣaṇagatvaram

Translation

အသက်တာသည် ခဏအတွင်း လျင်မြန်စွာ ကုန်ဆုံးသွားသည်ဟု သိမြင်၍၊ မဟာပညာရှိသူသည် ဤနေရာ၌ သာသနာရေးကောင်းမှုများကို ပြုလုပ်သည်—ဝရတ၏ အဆုံးသတ်ပူဇော်မှု (vratotsarga)၊ နွားထီးကို ဒါနပေးခြင်း (vṛṣotsarga) နှင့် ရှီဝလင်္ဂနှင့် သန့်ရှင်းသင်္ကေတများကို ပရတိဋ္ဌာနာဖြင့် တည်ထောင်ခြင်းတို့ ဖြစ်သည်။

Word by Word

• व्रत-उत्सर्गम्: the giving up/ending of a vow
• व्रत-उत्सर्गम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: व्रत (प्रातिपदिक) + उत्सर्ग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति (कर्म), एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (व्रतस्य उत्सर्गः)

• वृष-उत्सर्गम्: the release/donation of a bull
• वृष-उत्सर्गम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वृष (प्रातिपदिक) + उत्सर्ग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (वृषस्य उत्सर्गः)

• लिङ्ग-आदि: linga and the like
• लिङ्ग-आदि: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: लिङ्ग (प्रातिपदिक) + आदि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; समाहारार्थे ‘आदि’युक्त-तत्पुरुषः (लिङ्गं आदिः यस्य)

• स्थापनम्: establishing/installation
• स्थापनम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्था (धातु) + ल्युट् (प्रत्यय) → स्थापन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; क्रियानाम (ल्युट्)

• तथा: and also; likewise
• तथा: Sambandha (Linker/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; क्रियाविशेषण (adverb)

• करोति: does; performs
• करोति: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (वर्तमान), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन

• यः: who
• यः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; सम्बन्ध-सर्वनाम

• महाप्राज्ञः: the very wise person
• महाप्राज्ञः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: महा (प्रातिपदिक) + प्राज्ञ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; कर्मधारयः (महान् प्राज्ञः)

• ज्ञात्वा: having known
• ज्ञात्वा: Purvakala (Prior action/पूर्वकाल)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ज्ञा (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त-अव्यय (absolutive/gerund)

• आयुः: life-span
• आयुः: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: आयुस् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• क्षण-गत्: passing in a moment
• क्षण-गत्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: क्षण (प्रातिपदिक) + गत् (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक, √गम्)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; उपपद-तत्पुरुषः (क्षणं गतः)

• त्वरम्: swift; fleeting
• त्वरम्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: त्वर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; विशेषण (त्वरित-स्वभावम्)

Speaker

Skanda

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Pilgrimage-inquirer (typical: ṛṣi/muni audience)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A learned pilgrim in Kāśī, aware of life’s swiftness, completes a vow, gifts a decorated bull to a brāhmaṇa/temple, and installs a Śiva-liṅga near a ghāṭ with Gaṅgā in the background.

Characters & Entities

• Kāśī (Vārāṇasī)
• Śiva (Īśāna/Sadāśiva)
• Liṅga

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Because life is momentary, one should promptly engage in dharmic acts—especially Śaiva rites—within Kāśī’s sacred field.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Kāśī/Ānandavana, the celebrated sacred kṣetra of Śiva.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Vratotsarga (formal completion of a vow), vṛṣotsarga (bull-gift), and liṅga-ādi sthāpana (installation of a liṅga and sacred emblems).