Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 79

Devanagari script

काठिन्यं कष्टमस्मिंस्ते वनेभ्यो बहुधा गतम् । कुटिलत्वं नदीभ्यस्ते दुःसेव्यत्वं हिमादपि

Transliteration

kāṭhinyaṃ kaṣṭamasmiṃste vanebhyo bahudhā gatam | kuṭilatvaṃ nadībhyaste duḥsevyatvaṃ himādapi

Translation

သင်၏ကြမ်းတမ်းသောခိုင်မာမှုသည် တောများထံမှ အကြိမ်ကြိမ်စုဆောင်းလာသကဲ့သို့၊ သင်၏ကွေ့ကောက်မှုသည် မြစ်များထံမှ၊ သင်၏နီးကပ်ရန်ခက်ခဲမှုသည် နှင်းနှင့်ရေခဲထံမှပင် ယူဆောင်လာသကဲ့သို့ ဖြစ်၏။

Word by Word

• काठिन्यम्: hardness
• काठिन्यम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: काठिन्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्

• कष्टम्: painful / harsh
• कष्टम्: Visheshana (Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कष्ट (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; ‘काठिन्यम्’ इति विशेषणम्

• अस्मिन्: in this (one)
• अस्मिन्: Adhikarana (Locative)
• Type: Noun
• Root: इदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं/नपुंसकलिङ्गे, सप्तमी-विभक्तिः (Locative/7th), एकवचनम्; सर्वनाम

• ते: your
• ते: Sambandha (Genitive)
• Type: Noun
• Root: युष्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी-विभक्तिः (Genitive/6th), एकवचनम्; ‘काठिन्यम्’ इत्यस्य सम्बन्धः

• वनेभ्यः: from forests
• वनेभ्यः: Apadana (Source/अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, पञ्चमी-विभक्तिः (Ablative/5th), बहुवचनम्

• बहुधा: in many ways / greatly
• बहुधा: Kriya-vishesana (Adverbial)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: बहुधा (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्ययम्; क्रियाविशेषणम् (adverb: ‘in many ways/much’)

• गतम्: has come / has been derived
• गतम्: Kriya (Predicate participle)
• Type: Verb
• Root: गम् (धातु) → गत (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक, क्त)
• Form: भूतकर्मणि कृदन्तम् (Past passive participle/क्त), नपुंसकलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; ‘काठिन्यम् … गतम्’ = ‘has come/derived’

• कुटिलत्वम्: crookedness
• कुटिलत्वम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कुटिल + त्व (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्

• नदीभ्यः: from rivers
• नदीभ्यः: Apadana (Source/अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नदी (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्गे, पञ्चमी-विभक्तिः (Ablative/5th), बहुवचनम्

• ते: your
• ते: Sambandha (Genitive)
• Type: Noun
• Root: युष्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; ‘कुटिलत्वम्/दुःसेव्यत्वम्’ इत्यस्य सम्बन्धः

• दुःसेव्यत्वम्: difficulty of being served/approached
• दुःसेव्यत्वम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दुर् (उपसर्ग) + सेव् (धातु) → सेव्य (कृदन्त, यत्) + त्व (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे, प्रथमा-विभक्तिः, एकवचनम्; ‘सेव्य’ (यत्) = ‘to be served/approached’

• हिमात्: from snow
• हिमात्: Apadana (Source/अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: हिम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं/नपुंसकलिङ्गे, पञ्चमी-विभक्तिः (Ablative/5th), एकवचनम्

• अपि: also / even
• अपि: Sambandha (Particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अपि (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्ययम्; समुच्चय/अपि-कारः (particle: ‘also/even’)

Speaker

Śiva (addressing Girijā)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A montage-like metaphor: dark forest density, winding river curves, glittering ice—each ‘donating’ a trait to the goddess’s perceived temperament, while Śiva speaks sternly.

Characters & Entities

• Śiva
• Girijā
• Forests
• Rivers
• Hima (snow/ice)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Harshness and inaccessibility obstruct harmony; dharmic life favors softness, straightforwardness, and approachability.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

None; the natural elements function as metaphors rather than a tīrtha-mahātmya.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None.