Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 59

Devanagari script

अहंकार स्ततो जातः सत्त्वराजसतामसः । तमो रजस्त्वमापद्य रजः सत्त्वगुणं नयेत्

Transliteration

ahaṃkāra stato jātaḥ sattvarājasatāmasaḥ | tamo rajastvamāpadya rajaḥ sattvaguṇaṃ nayet

Translation

ထို့နောက် အဟံကာရ (အတ္တစိတ်) ပေါ်ထွန်းလာ၍ သတ္တဝ၊ ရဇ၊ တမ သုံးဂုဏ်၏ သဘောရှိသည်။ တမသည် ရဇသို့ လှည့်၍၊ ရဇသည် ထပ်မံ သတ္တဝဂုဏ်သို့ ဦးတည်စေသည်။

Word by Word

• अहंकारः: ego (ahaṃkāra)
• अहंकारः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अहम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक) + कार (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘अहं’ इति कारः/भावः (ego-sense)

• स्ततः: therefrom/then
• स्ततः: Adhikarana (Context/अधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (अपभ्रंश/पाठान्तररूपेण) — अर्थतः ‘ततः’ (therefrom/then)

• जातः: arose/was born
• जातः: Kriya (Result/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √जन् (धातु) जनने
• Form: कृदन्त (क्त-प्रत्यय), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन — ‘born/arisen’

• सत्त्वराजसतामसः: of the nature of sattva, rajas, and tamas
• सत्त्वराजसतामसः: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सत्त्व (प्रातिपदिक) + राजस (प्रातिपदिक) + तामस (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन — त्रयाणां गुणानां द्वन्द्वसमासः; अहंकारस्य विशेषणम् (‘sattvic-rajasic-tamasic’)

• तमः: tamas
• तमः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तमस् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन — here as subject in next clause

• रजस्त्वम्: the state of rajas
• रजस्त्वम्: Karma (Object/Result-state)
• Type: Noun
• Root: रजस् (प्रातिपदिक) + त्व (भावप्रत्यय)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन — ‘rajastva’ (state of rajas)

• आपद्य: having attained
• आपद्य: Purvakala (Prior action/पूर्वकाल)
• Type: Verb
• Root: आ (उपसर्ग) + √पद् (धातु) गतौ/आपत्तौ
• Form: कृदन्त (क्त्वा-प्रत्यय, अव्ययभाव) — ‘having attained/entering’

• रजः: rajas
• रजः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: रजस् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• सत्त्वगुणम्: the sattva-guṇa
• सत्त्वगुणम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सत्त्व (प्रातिपदिक) + गुण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन — ‘सत्त्वस्य गुणः’ (the guṇa of sattva)

• नयेत्: should lead/bring
• नयेत्: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √नी (धातु) नयने
• Form: विधिलिङ् (Optative), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन — ‘should lead/bring’

Speaker

Lomaharṣaṇa (Sūta) (deduced, Māheśvarakhaṇḍa narrative style)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: Three layered forms of ahaṃkāra: dark heavy base (tamas) rising into red restless middle (rajas) and culminating in white luminous crown (sattva), with an ascetic/pilgrim climbing steps between them.

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Inner transformation is possible: inertia (tamas) can be stirred into disciplined action (rajas), and action refined into clarity (sattva).

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No site is named; the verse is a guṇa-based psychology and cosmology teaching.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No explicit ritual is prescribed; it implies purification through cultivating sattva.