Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 2

Devanagari script

सूत उवाच । मांडव्य शापमासाद्य धर्मराजः सुदुःखितः । तपस्तेपे द्विजश्रेष्ठास्तस्मिन्क्षेत्रे व्यवस्थितः

Transliteration

sūta uvāca | māṃḍavya śāpamāsādya dharmarājaḥ suduḥkhitaḥ | tapastepe dvijaśreṣṭhāstasminkṣetre vyavasthitaḥ

Translation

စူတက ဆို၏— «မဏ္ဍဗျ၏ ကျိန်စာကို ခံရပြီးနောက် ဓမ္မရာဇသည် အလွန်ဝမ်းနည်းပူဆွေး၏။ အို ဒွိဇတို့အထွတ်အမြတ်တို့၊ ထိုသန့်ရှင်းသော က్షೇತ್ರ၌ တည်နေကာ တပဿကို ဆောင်ရွက်လေ၏»။

Word by Word

• सूतः: Sūta
• सूतः: Karta (Speaker)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सूत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे प्रथमा (1st/कर्ता), एकवचन

• उवाच: said
• उवाच: Kriyā (Main verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच् (धातु)
• Form: लिट् (perfect), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; ‘said’

• माण्डव्य: of Māṇḍavya
• माण्डव्य: Sambandha (Genitive relation)
• Type: Noun
• Root: माण्डव्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे षष्ठी (6th/सम्बन्ध), एकवचन; ‘of Māṇḍavya’ (used as genitive qualifier of ‘शापम्’)

• शापम्: curse
• शापम्: Karma (Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शाप (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• आसाद्य: having incurred
• आसाद्य: Kriyāviśeṣaṇa (Prior action)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: आ- सद् (धातु)
• Form: ल्यप्/क्त्वान्त-अव्यय (gerund), ‘having incurred/obtained’

• धर्मराजः: Dharmarāja (Yama)
• धर्मराजः: Karta (Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: धर्मराज (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे प्रथमा (1st/कर्ता), एकवचन; ‘Dharma-rāja’

• सुदुःखितः: deeply distressed
• सुदुःखितः: Karta (Subject qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सु + दुःखित (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; ‘very sorrowful’ (qualifying ‘धर्मराजः’)

• तपः: austerity
• तपः: Karma (Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तपस् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन; ‘austerity’

• तेपे: performed (austerities)
• तेपे: Kriyā (Main verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: तप् (धातु)
• Form: लिट् (perfect), आत्मनेपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; ‘performed austerity’

• द्विजश्रेष्ठः: best of the twice-born
• द्विजश्रेष्ठः: Karta (Apposition to subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्विज + श्रेष्ठ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे प्रथमा (1st/कर्ता), एकवचन; कर्मधारयः ‘श्रेष्ठः द्विजः’ = ‘best of the twice-born’ (apposition to ‘धर्मराजः’)

• तस्मिन्: in that
• तस्मिन्: Adhikaraṇa (Location)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे सप्तमी (7th/अधिकरण), एकवचन; ‘in that’

• क्षेत्रे: in the sacred place
• क्षेत्रे: Adhikaraṇa (Location)
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षेत्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे सप्तमी (7th/अधिकरण), एकवचन; ‘in the sacred place/field’

• व्यवस्थितः: staying/remaining
• व्यवस्थितः: Karta (Subject qualifier)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वि-अव-स्था (धातु) → व्यवस्थित (कृदन्त, क्त)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (past passive participle used adjectivally), पुंलिङ्गे प्रथमा, एकवचन; ‘having stayed/being stationed’ (qualifying subject)

Speaker

Sūta

Tirtha Mahatmya

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Ṛṣis

Visual Art Cues

Scene: Dharmarāja, regal yet humbled, stands or sits in austerity within a sacred field—simple attire, controlled posture, prayer beads; the landscape suggests sanctity (riverbank, grove, or shrine boundary).

Characters & Entities

• Sūta
• Dharmarāja (Yama)
• Māṇḍavya (sage)
• Kṣetra (unnamed sacred field)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

When afflicted by a curse or karmic burden, steadfast tapas in a sacred environment is presented as a dharmic path of resolution.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

A ‘kṣetra’ is indicated, but its name is not given in this verse fragment.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Tapas (austerity) is the stated practice; no detailed vrata, snāna, or dāna is specified here.