Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 23

Devanagari script

स्मरंती गोकुले बद्धं स्वसुतं क्षीरपायिनम् । दुःखेन रुदतीं तां स दृष्ट्वोवाच मृगाधिपः

Transliteration

smaraṃtī gokule baddhaṃ svasutaṃ kṣīrapāyinam | duḥkhena rudatīṃ tāṃ sa dṛṣṭvovāca mṛgādhipaḥ

Translation

နွားတော၌ ချည်ထားပြီး နို့သောက်နေဆဲဖြစ်သော မိမိနွားကလေးကို သတိရကာ၊ ဝမ်းနည်း၍ ငိုနေသော မိနွားမကို မြင်သော် တိရစ္ဆာန်တို့၏ အရှင်က ပြောလေ၏။

Word by Word

• स्मरन्ती: remembering
• स्मरन्ती: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्मृ (धातु) → स्मरन्त् (कृदन्त/शतृ)
• Form: शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त वर्तमान कृदन्त (present active participle); स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; ‘remembering’

• गोकुले: in the cow-pen
• गोकुले: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: गोकुल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th/अधिकरण), एकवचन

• बद्धम्: bound, tied
• बद्धम्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: बन्ध् (धातु) → बद्ध (कृदन्त/क्त)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त; पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषण (स्वसुतम्)

• स्वसुतम्: her own calf/son
• स्वसुतम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्व-सुत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: समास: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (स्वस्य सुतः); पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• क्षीरपायिनम्: milk-drinking
• क्षीरपायिनम्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: क्षीर + पायिन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: समास: तत्पुरुष (क्षीरं पिबति); पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषण (स्वसुतम्)

• दुःखेन: from sorrow
• दुःखेन: Hetu (Cause/हेतु)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दुःख (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/करण), एकवचन; हेतौ (in sense of cause)

• रुदतीम्: crying
• रुदतीम्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: रुद् (धातु) → रुदत् (कृदन्त/शतृ)
• Form: शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त वर्तमान कृदन्त; स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषण (ताम्)

• ताम्: her
• ताम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• सः: he
• सः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

• दृष्ट्वा: having seen
• दृष्ट्वा: Purvakala (Prior action/पूर्वकाल)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: दृश् (धातु) → दृष्ट्वा (क्त्वा-प्रत्यय)
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्ययीभावरूप कृदन्त (gerund); ‘having seen’

• उवाच: said
• उवाच: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच् (धातु)
• Form: लिट्-लकार (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd), एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• मृगाधिपः: lord of beasts (tiger)
• मृगाधिपः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मृग + अधिप (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: समास: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (मृगाणाम् अधिपः); पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

Speaker

Narrator (then tiger begins speaking next verse)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Arbuda (contextual)

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: The cow, eyes brimming, recalls her calf tied in the cowshed; the tiger pauses, watching her tears, the forest momentarily still.

Characters & Entities

• tiger (mṛgādhipa)
• Kapilā (cow)
• calf

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Parental love and responsibility are powerful dharmic forces; even in danger, the mind turns to duties left behind.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The narrative unfolds in the Arbuda landscape; this verse highlights the ethical drama rather than a specific tīrtha.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None.