Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 19

Devanagari script

यथा धेनुसहस्रेषु वत्सो विन्दति मातरम् । तथैवं कोटिमध्यस्थं कर्तारं कर्म विन्दति

Transliteration

yathā dhenusahasreṣu vatso vindati mātaram | tathaivaṃ koṭimadhyasthaṃ kartāraṃ karma vindati

Translation

နွားထောင်ပေါင်းများစွာအတွင်း၌ နွားကလေးသည် မိမိမိခင်ကို ရှာတွေ့သကဲ့သို့၊ ကံသည်လည်း သန်းပေါင်းများစွာအလယ်၌ ရပ်နေသူဖြစ်စေကာမူ မိမိ၏ပြုသူကို ရှာတွေ့တတ်သည်။

Word by Word

• यथा: just as
• यथा: Sambandha (Comparative marker/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yathā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; उपमानवाचक

• धेनुसहस्रेषु: among thousands of cows
• धेनुसहस्रेषु: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: dhenu + sahasra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; सप्तमी-विभक्ति; बहुवचन; तत्पुरुष-समास (षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष: धेनूनां सहस्रेषु = among thousands of cows)

• वत्सः: the calf
• वत्सः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vatsa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा-विभक्ति; एकवचन

• विन्दति: finds
• विन्दति: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √vid (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (Present); प्रथम-पुरुष; एकवचन; परस्मैपद; धातु: √विद् (to find)

• मातरम्: its mother
• मातरम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mātṛ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; द्वितीया-विभक्ति; एकवचन

• तथा: so, likewise
• तथा: Sambandha (Comparative marker/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tathā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; उपमानोत्तर-निर्देशक (indeclinable; 'so/likewise')

• एवम्: thus
• एवम्: Sambandha (Manner marker/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: evam (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; प्रकारवाचक (indeclinable; 'thus/in this manner')

• कोटिमध्यस्थम्: situated amid crores (of beings)
• कोटिमध्यस्थम्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: koṭi + madhya + stha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; द्वितीया-विभक्ति; एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समास (सप्तमी-तत्पुरुष: कोटिमध्ये स्थितः = situated in the midst of crores)

• कर्तारम्: the doer/agent
• कर्तारम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kartṛ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; द्वितीया-विभक्ति; एकवचन

• कर्म: karma (deed)
• कर्म: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: karman (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा-विभक्ति; एकवचन

• विन्दति: finds
• विन्दति: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √vid (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार; प्रथम-पुरुष; एकवचन; परस्मैपद

Speaker

Skanda (deduced: Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya narration style)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: Pastoral scene near a sacred river: a calf runs through a vast herd and unerringly reaches its mother; above, an allegorical thread links a person to a karmic ‘seed’ returning to him.

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

No one can hide from the moral law; karmic consequences inevitably locate the responsible agent.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No tīrtha is named in the verse; it strengthens the ethical seriousness of tīrtha practice.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; it uses a memorable simile to teach karmic certainty.