Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 15

Devanagari script

प्रलंबित ललज्जिह्वमत्युत्कट कृकाटिकम् । स्थूलास्थि जत्रु संस्थानं दीर्घस्कंधद्वयोत्कटम्

Transliteration

pralaṃbita lalajjihvamatyutkaṭa kṛkāṭikam | sthūlāsthi jatru saṃsthānaṃ dīrghaskaṃdhadvayotkaṭam

Translation

သူ၏လျှာသည် ရှည်လျားစွာ ထွက်လျှောကျနေပြီး လည်ပင်းသည် အလွန်အမင်း ထင်ရှား၍ မျက်နှာမူကွဲပြားစေသည်။ လည်ခေါင်းအရိုးနှင့် အထက်ရင်ဘတ်အရိုးဖွဲ့စည်းမှုမှာ ထူထဲကာ ပခုံးနှစ်ဖက်သည် ရှည်လျား၍ ကြောက်မက်ဖွယ် လေးလံသည်။

Word by Word

• प्रलम्बितललज्जिह्वम्: with a protruding/hanging tongue
• प्रलम्बितललज्जिह्वम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रलम्बित (कृदन्त; √लम्ब् धातु) + ललत्/ललज्जिह्व (प्रातिपदिक; जिह्वा)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, द्वितीया-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; तत्पुरुषः (प्रलम्बिता जिह्वा यस्य)

• अत्युत्कट: extremely fierce
• अत्युत्कट: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अति (उपसर्ग/अव्यय-पूर्वपद) + उत्कट (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, द्वितीया-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; अव्ययीभावः (अति+उत्कट = extremely fierce)

• कृकाटिकम्: neck/nape
• कृकाटिकम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कृकाटिका (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, द्वितीया-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; विशेष्य-रूपेण (neck/nape)

• स्थूलास्थि: thick-boned
• स्थूलास्थि: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: स्थूल (प्रातिपदिक) + अस्थि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, द्वितीया-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; कर्मधारयः (स्थूलम् अस्थि)

• जत्रु: collar-bone/upper chest
• जत्रु: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: जत्रु (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, द्वितीया-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; (collar-bone/upper chest region)

• संस्थानम्: structure/build
• संस्थानम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: संस्थान (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, द्वितीया-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्

• दीर्घस्कन्धद्वयोत्कटम्: fierce with two long shoulders
• दीर्घस्कन्धद्वयोत्कटम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दीर्घ (प्रातिपदिक) + स्कन्ध (प्रातिपदिक) + द्वय (प्रातिपदिक) + उत्कट (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे, द्वितीया-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; तत्पुरुषः (दीर्घौ स्कन्धद्वयौ यस्य; उत्कटम्)

Speaker

Skanda (contextual narration to Agastya in Kāśīkhaṇḍa)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A terrifying being with tongue lolling out, grotesquely prominent neck, thick bony collar/upper chest, and unnervingly massive long shoulders—posed as if looming in a sacred corridor near ghats/temples.

Characters & Entities

• Kāśī
• preta

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Vivid depiction of suffering supports the Purāṇic aim: to turn the mind toward dharma, repentance, and refuge in sacred merit.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Kāśī is the overarching sacred setting of the Kāśīkhaṇḍa.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; the verse continues the narrative portrayal.