Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 20

Devanagari script

कांतारस्यांतमन्विच्छन्प्रेरयामास तं हयम् । जात्यं सर्वगुणोपेतं कशाघातैः प्रताडयन्

Transliteration

kāṃtārasyāṃtamanvicchanprerayāmāsa taṃ hayam | jātyaṃ sarvaguṇopetaṃ kaśāghātaiḥ pratāḍayan

Translation

တောကန္တာရ၏ အဆုံးကို ရှာဖွေလျက်၊ မင်းကြီးသည် အရည်အသွေးစုံလင်သော မျိုးကောင်းမြင်းကို ကန့်ကွက်ဖြင့် ရိုက်နှက်ကာ ရှေ့သို့ မောင်းနှင်၏။

Word by Word

• कान्तारस्य: of the wilderness/forest
• कान्तारस्य: सम्बन्ध (Genitive)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कान्तार (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), एकवचन

• अन्तम्: end; boundary
• अन्तम्: कर्म (Object of अन्विच्छन्)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अन्त (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन

• अन्विच्छन्: seeking; searching for
• अन्विच्छन्: कर्ता (Agent; agreeing with implied subject 'सः')
• Type: Verb
• Root: अनु + इष्/इच्छ् (धातु)
• Form: शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त वर्तमानकृदन्त (Present active participle); पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• प्रेरयामास: urged; drove on
• प्रेरयामास: क्रिया (Main verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र + ईर्/इर् (धातु)
• Form: लिट् (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन; परस्मैपदम्

• तम्: that
• तम्: कर्म-विशेषण
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन; 'हयम्' इत्यस्य विशेषणम्

• हयम्: horse
• हयम्: कर्म (Object of प्रेरयामास)
• Type: Noun
• Root: हय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन

• जात्यम्: of noble breed; thoroughbred
• जात्यम्: कर्म-विशेषण
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जात्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन; 'हयम्' इत्यस्य विशेषणम् (जात्यः = उत्तमजातीयः)

• सर्वगुणोपेतम्: endowed with all good qualities
• सर्वगुणोपेतम्: कर्म-विशेषण
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व + गुण + उपेत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (उप + इ/ए 'to go/attain' → उपेत 'endowed'); पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (सर्वगुण-उपेतः = 'सर्वैर्गुणैः उपेतः')

• कशाघातैः: with whip-blows
• कशाघातैः: करण (Instrument)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कशा + आघात (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), बहुवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (कशायाः आघाताः)

• प्रताडयन्: striking; beating
• प्रताडयन्: कर्ता (Agent; concomitant action)
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र + तड् (धातु)
• Form: शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त वर्तमानकृदन्त (Present active participle); पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; 'प्रेरयामास' इत्यस्य सहक्रिया

Speaker

Narrator (contextual; likely Sūta continuing the account)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: The king, desperate, lashes a superb horse to push through the wilderness; the horse’s strain and dust clouds convey urgency and moral tension.

Characters & Entities

• nṛpati (king)
• haya (horse)
• kāntāra (wilderness/forest)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Human effort and urgency propel one into the unknown; such movement in a Māhātmya often becomes the setup for grace and revelation at a sacred place.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

This verse is transitional; it drives the narrative toward the forthcoming tīrtha context in the Tīrthamāhātmya rather than naming a site here.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None in this verse; it describes travel and exertion, not a rite.