Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 18

Devanagari script

विना भस्म समाधाय कपाले रजतप्रभम् । मनुजास्थिमयीं मालां प्रेतनाथश्च वन्दनम्

Transliteration

vinā bhasma samādhāya kapāle rajataprabham | manujāsthimayīṃ mālāṃ pretanāthaśca vandanam

Translation

တစ်ဦးက ဗိဘူတိ (သန့်ရှင်းသော ပြာ) ကို လိမ်းကပ်၍၊ တစ်ဦးက ငွေရောင်တောက်ပသော ကပာလ (ခေါင်းခွံပန်းကန်) ကို ထားတင်၏။ ပရေတနာထ (ဝိညာဉ်တို့၏ အရှင်) သည်လည်း လူအရိုးဖြင့် ပြုလုပ်သော မာလာကို ဆောင်ကာ၊ လောကစွန့်လွှတ်ခြင်း၏ ကြောက်မက်ဖွယ် သင်္ကေတအဖြစ် ဂုဏ်ပြုထိုက်၏။

Word by Word

• vinā: without
• vinā: Sambandha (Relation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: vinā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; उपसर्गसदृश-निपातः/पूर्वपदप्रयोगः; अर्थे—वर्जने (without)

• bhasma: ashes
• bhasma: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bhasman (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• samādhāya: having placed/arranged
• samādhāya: Kriyāviśeṣaṇa (Adverbial/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Verb
• Root: sam-ā-√dhā (धा)
• Form: क्त्वान्त (absolutive/gerund); पूर्वक्रिया—‘स्थापयित्वा/आधाय’

• kapāle: in/on the skull-bowl
• kapāle: Adhikaraṇa (Locus/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kapāla (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; सप्तमी (7th/अधिकरण), एकवचन

• rajata-prabham: silver-lustrous
• rajata-prabham: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: rajata (प्रातिपदिक) + prabhā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुषसमास (षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः: रजतस्य प्रभा यस्य); नपुंसकलिङ्ग; द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन

• manuja-asthi-mayīm: made of human bones
• manuja-asthi-mayīm: Viśeṣaṇa (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: manuja (प्रातिपदिक) + asthi (प्रातिपदिक) + maya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुषसमास (उपपद/षष्ठीभावः: मनुजानाम् अस्थिभिः मयी); स्त्रीलिङ्ग; द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन

• mālām: garland
• mālām: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mālā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• pretanāthaḥ: lord of the spirits (Śiva)
• pretanāthaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: preta (प्रातिपदिक) + nātha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुषसमास (षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः: प्रेतानां नाथः); पुल्लिङ्ग; प्रथमा (1st/कर्ता), एकवचन

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (Relation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयार्थक-निपात (conjunction)

• vandanam: salutation/obeisance
• vandanam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vandana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

Speaker

Lomaharṣaṇa (Sūta), narrating to the sages (deduced from Māheśvarakhaṇḍa context)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: Śiva as Pretanātha stands adorned with bhasma, a silver-lustrous kapāla (skull-bowl), and a garland of human bones; attendants present ascetic emblems; the mood is numinous and fear-transcending.

Characters & Entities

• Bhasma (sacred ash)
• Kapāla (skull-bowl)
• Preta-nātha (Śiva)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Śiva’s fearful ornaments teach dispassion: ash and skull-bowl remind seekers of impermanence and the supremacy of liberation over worldly pride.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No specific location is praised in this verse; it highlights Śiva’s ascetic iconography common to Śaiva sacred geography.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Bhasma (sacred ash) is referenced as an emblematic practice; no detailed method (vidhi) is given here.