Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 99

Devanagari script

क्षणमुन्मील्य नयने कृत्वा नेत्रातिथिं पटीम् । तर्जन्यग्रमथोत्क्षिप्य स्वात्मानं समबोधयत्

Transliteration

kṣaṇamunmīlya nayane kṛtvā netrātithiṃ paṭīm | tarjanyagramathotkṣipya svātmānaṃ samabodhayat

Translation

သူမသည် ခဏတာ မျက်စိဖွင့်၍ ပန်းချီရေးထားသော အဝတ်ကို မျက်မြင်၏ ‘ဧည့်သည်’ အဖြစ်ခံယူကာ၊ ထို့နောက် လက်ညှိုးထိပ်ကို မြှောက်ပြီး ကိုယ်ကိုယ်တိုင်ကို သတိပြန်ရစေ하였다။

Word by Word

• क्षणम्: for a moment
• क्षणम्: Kāla-adhikaraṇa (Temporal adjunct/कालाधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति (कर्म), एकवचन; अव्ययीभावार्थे कालपरिमाणम् (for a moment)

• उन्मील्य: having opened
• उन्मील्य: Kriyā-viśeṣaṇa (Absolutive modifying main action)
• Type: Verb
• Root: उत्+मील् (धातु) → उन्मील्य (क्त्वान्त/ल्यप्)
• Form: क्त्वान्त (ल्यप्) अव्ययकृदन्त; पूर्वकालिकक्रिया (having opened)

• नयने: (his) two eyes
• नयने: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नयन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, द्विवचन

• कृत्वा: having made
• कृत्वा: Kriyā-viśeṣaṇa (Absolutive)
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ (धातु) → कृत्वा (क्त्वान्त)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्ययकृदन्त; पूर्वकालिकक्रिया (having made/done)

• नेत्रातिथिम्: a guest of the eyes (a sight)
• नेत्रातिथिम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नेत्र (प्रातिपदिक) + अतिथि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (नेत्रस्य अतिथिः); पुल्लिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• पटीम्: a cloth/veil
• पटीम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पटी (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• तर्जनी-अग्रम्: the tip of the index finger
• तर्जनी-अग्रम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तर्जनी (प्रातिपदिक) + अग्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (तर्जन्याः अग्रं); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• अथ: then
• अथ: Discourse particle (सम्बन्ध/क्रमसूचक)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अथ (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय/अनन्तरार्थक अव्यय (then/now)

• उत्क्षिप्य: having lifted/raised
• उत्क्षिप्य: Kriyā-viśeṣaṇa (Absolutive)
• Type: Verb
• Root: उत्+क्षिप् (धातु) → उत्क्षिप्य (क्त्वान्त/ल्यप्)
• Form: क्त्वान्त (ल्यप्) अव्ययकृदन्त; पूर्वकालिकक्रिया (having raised)

• स्वात्मानम्: his own self
• स्वात्मानम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्व (प्रातिपदिक) + आत्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: कर्मधारय (स्वः आत्मा); पुल्लिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• समबोधयत्: he awakened/caused (himself) to understand
• समबोधयत्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: सम्+बुध् (धातु) → बोधय (णिजन्त)
• Form: लङ्-लकार (अनद्यतनभूत), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद; णिजन्त (causative)

Speaker

Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A pilgrim-woman briefly opens her eyes, letting a painted cloth-image become ‘a guest’ to her gaze; she raises her forefinger as if instructing herself, returning to wakeful awareness amid the sacred city.

Characters & Entities

• Paṭī (painted cloth/panel)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Awareness can be deliberately reclaimed from fascination—self-mastery (saṃyama) is praised even amid compelling sights.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Kāśī is the overarching sacred setting; the verse itself is a narrative detail without a named tīrtha.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; it depicts an inner act of recollection and self-awakening.