Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 54

Devanagari script

कात्यायन उवाच । दानस्य तपसो वापि भगवन्किं च दुष्करम् । किं वा महत्फलं प्रेत्य सारस्वत ब्रवीहि तत्

Transliteration

kātyāyana uvāca | dānasya tapaso vāpi bhagavankiṃ ca duṣkaram | kiṃ vā mahatphalaṃ pretya sārasvata bravīhi tat

Translation

ကာတ်ယာယနက ပြောသည်—“အို ဘုရားရှင်၊ ဒါန (dāna) နှင့် တပသ (tapas) တို့အနက် အမှန်တကယ် ခက်ခဲသော အရာသည် မည်သည်နည်း။ သေပြီးနောက် အကြီးမားဆုံး အကျိုးကို ပေးသော အရာသည် မည်သည်နည်း။ အို စာရသ္ဝတ (Sārasvata)၊ ထိုအကြောင်းကို ပြောပြပါ”။

Word by Word

• कात्यायनः: Kātyāyana
• कात्यायनः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कात्यायन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा विभक्ति (Nominative/1st); एकवचन

• उवाच: said
• उवाच: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच् (धातु)
• Form: लिट् लकार (Perfect); प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person); एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• दानस्य: of giving / of charity
• दानस्य: Sambandha (Genitive relation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दान (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; षष्ठी विभक्ति (Genitive/6th); एकवचन

• तपसः: of austerity
• तपसः: Sambandha (Genitive relation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तपस् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; षष्ठी विभक्ति (Genitive/6th); एकवचन

• वा: or
• वा: Sambandha (Alternative/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वा (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; विकल्पार्थक (disjunctive particle: or)

• अपि: also
• अपि: Sambandha (Addition/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अपि (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चय/अप्यर्थ (also/even)

• भगवन्: O venerable one
• भगवन्: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भगवत् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; सम्बोधन विभक्ति (Vocative); एकवचन

• किम्: what
• किम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: किम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम; नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया विभक्ति (Nom/Acc); एकवचन; प्रश्नार्थक

• च: and
• च: Sambandha (Coordination/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चय

• दुष्करम्: difficult
• दुष्करम्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दुस् + कर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया विभक्ति (Nom/Acc); एकवचन; उपसर्ग-निषेध (hard to do)

• किम्: what
• किम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: किम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम; नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया विभक्ति (Nom/Acc); एकवचन; प्रश्नार्थक

• वा: or
• वा: Sambandha (Alternative/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वा (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; विकल्पार्थक

• महत्-फलम्: great fruit/result
• महत्-फलम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: महत् + फल (प्रातिपदिक-द्वय)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया विभक्ति (Nom/Acc); एकवचन; कर्मधारय (महत् फलम्)

• प्रेत्य: after death / having departed
• प्रेत्य: Sambandha (Temporal/Concomitant action/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: प्र + इ (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्यय (gerund/absolutive); 'having gone (to the next world)'

• सारस्वत: O Sārasvata
• सारस्वत: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सारस्वत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; सम्बोधन विभक्ति (Vocative); एकवचन

• ब्रवीहि: tell
• ब्रवीहि: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ब्रू (धातु)
• Form: लोट् लकार (Imperative); मध्यमपुरुष (2nd person); एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• तत्: that
• तत्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम; नपुंसकलिङ्ग; द्वितीया विभक्ति (Accusative/2nd); एकवचन

Speaker

Kātyāyana

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Śaunaka and sages (frame)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: Kātyāyana, hands folded, asks Sārasvata seated with a manuscript and water-pot; behind them symbolic scales weigh ‘dāna’ and ‘tapas’; a faint vision of afterlife paths (svarga/mokṣa) appears above.

Characters & Entities

• Kātyāyana
• Sārasvata

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

It frames a dharmic inquiry: which practice—charity or austerity—is harder, and which brings the highest posthumous merit.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No specific tīrtha is named in this verse; it functions as a doctrinal question within the Kaumārikākhaṇḍa narrative.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No direct prescription is given; the verse introduces evaluation of dāna (charitable giving) and tapas (austerity).