Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 11

Devanagari script

स धर्मराजवज्जातो धर्माधर्मविवेचकः । अदंड्यान्मण्डयन्राजा दंड्यांश्च परिदंडयन्

Transliteration

sa dharmarājavajjāto dharmādharmavivecakaḥ | adaṃḍyānmaṇḍayanrājā daṃḍyāṃśca paridaṃḍayan

Translation

သူသည် ဓမ္မရာဇာကဲ့သို့ မွေးဖွားလာ၍ ဓမ္မနှင့် အဓမ္မကို ခွဲခြားသိမြင်သူဖြစ်၏။ အပြစ်မထိုက်သူတို့ကို ဂုဏ်ပြုကာ၊ အပြစ်ထိုက်သူတို့ကို တင်းကျပ်စွာ အပြစ်ပေး၏။

Word by Word

• सः: he
• सः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st case), एकवचन; सर्वनाम

• धर्मराजवत्: like Yama (Dharmarāja)
• धर्मराजवत्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: धर्मराज + वत् (प्रातिपदिक + तद्धित)
• Form: उपमानवाचक-वत् तद्धितान्त; अव्ययवत् प्रयोगः; विशेषण

• जातः: born, arisen
• जातः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: जन् (धातु)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (past passive participle); पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st case), एकवचन

• धर्म-अधर्म-विवेचकः: discriminator of right and wrong
• धर्म-अधर्म-विवेचकः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: धर्म + अधर्म + विवेचक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st case), एकवचन; समाहार-द्वन्द्वपूर्वक तत्पुरुषार्थः (धर्माधर्मयोः विवेचकः)

• अदण्ड्यान्: those not to be punished
• अदण्ड्यान्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अदण्ड्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd case), बहुवचन; नञ्-समास/उपसर्गयुक्त विशेष्य-नाम

• मण्डयन्: honouring/adorn­ing
• मण्डयन्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: मण्ड् (धातु)
• Form: वर्तमानकाले शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त; पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st case), एकवचन

• राजा: the king
• राजा: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st case), एकवचन

• दण्ड्यान्: those deserving punishment
• दण्ड्यान्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दण्ड्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd case), बहुवचन

• च: and
• च: Sambandha (Connector/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चयबोधक अव्यय (conjunction)

• परिदण्डयन्: punishing thoroughly
• परिदण्डयन्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: परि + दण्ड् (धातु)
• Form: वर्तमानकाले शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त; पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st case), एकवचन

Speaker

Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Kāśī

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A king seated in court like Dharma-rāja, calm yet firm; he honors the blameless and sentences the guilty with measured authority; attendants and petitioners stand in orderly rows.

Characters & Entities

• Dharma-rāja (Yama)
• Divodāsa (implied)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

True dharma is discrimination (viveka): compassion toward the blameless and measured punishment toward wrongdoing sustain moral order.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Kāśī’s sacred order is supported indirectly through the portrayal of its righteous protector-king; the site is part of the chapter’s Vārāṇasī setting.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; the verse teaches governance ethics rather than ritual.