Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 20

Devanagari script

सरस्वत्युवाच । अहं कन्या सुरश्रेष्ठ पातालतलवाहिनी । जनस्पर्शभयाद्भीता नागच्छामि महीतले

Transliteration

sarasvatyuvāca | ahaṃ kanyā suraśreṣṭha pātālatalavāhinī | janasparśabhayādbhītā nāgacchāmi mahītale

Translation

စရஸဝတီမိန့်တော်မူသည်– «အို နတ်တို့အထဲ၌ အမြတ်ဆုံးသောအရှင်၊ ကျွန်မသည် ကညာဖြစ်ပြီး ပာတားလဒေသများတစ်လျှောက် စီးဆင်းသူဖြစ်ပါသည်။ လူတို့၏ထိတွေ့မှုကို ကြောက်ရွံ့သဖြင့် မြေမျက်နှာပြင်ပေါ်သို့ မတက်လာပါ»။

Word by Word

• सरस्वती: Sarasvatī
• सरस्वती: Karta (Speaker/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सरस्वती (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• उवाच: said
• उवाच: Kriya (Main verb/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच् (धातु)
• Form: लिट्-लकार (perfect); प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• अहम्: I
• अहम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; सर्वनाम

• कन्या: a maiden
• कन्या: Karta (Predicate nominative/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कन्या (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; विधेय-नाम (predicate noun)

• सुरश्रेष्ठ: O best of gods
• सुरश्रेष्ठ: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सुर (प्रातिपदिक) + श्रेष्ठ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; सम्बोधन-विभक्ति, एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (सुराणां श्रेष्ठ)

• पातालतलवाहिनी: flowing along the netherworld’s surface
• पातालतलवाहिनी: Karta (Qualifier of subject/कर्ता-विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पाताल (प्रातिपदिक) + तल (प्रातिपदिक) + वाहिनी (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; विशेषण (अहम्/सरस्वती); षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (पातालस्य तलम्) + तत्पुरुष (तल-वाहिनी)

• जनस्पर्शभयात्: from fear of human touch
• जनस्पर्शभयात्: Hetu/Apadana (Cause/Source/हेतु/अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: जन (प्रातिपदिक) + स्पर्श (प्रातिपदिक) + भय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; पञ्चमी-विभक्ति (अपादान/हेतु), एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (जनस्य स्पर्शः) + तत्पुरुष (स्पर्श-भयम्)

• भीता: afraid
• भीता: Karta (Subject qualifier/कर्ता-विशेषण)
• Type: Verb
• Root: भी (धातु)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्यय (past participle); स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; ‘frightened’

• न: not
• न: Sambandha (Negation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; निषेध (negation particle)

• आगच्छामि: I come, I go to
• आगच्छामि: Kriya (Main verb/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: आ + गम् (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (present); उत्तमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• महीतले: on the earth’s surface
• महीतले: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मही (प्रातिपदिक) + तल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; सप्तमी-विभक्ति (अधिकरण), एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (महेः तलम्)

Speaker

Sarasvatī

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Gupta-Sarasvatī (Hidden Sarasvatī) context for the Brahma-śilā tīrtha

Type: kund

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Brahmā (addressed as sura-śreṣṭha)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: Sarasvatī as a modest maiden-goddess speaks to a deva (Brahmā), with a dark-blue subterranean realm below and a faint earth-surface above, indicating her hidden flow.

Characters & Entities

• Sarasvatī
• Brahmā (implied addressee: suraśreṣṭha)
• Pātāla

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Sacredness is guarded through purity; divine presences may remain concealed to preserve sanctity from casual contact.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The concealed Sarasvatī current associated with the Citraśilā/Mahāhrada tīrtha setting in Nāgara Khaṇḍa.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No direct ritual is prescribed here; it explains why the goddess hesitates to appear openly on earth.