Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 1

Devanagari script

ऋषय ऊचुः । कथाया लक्षणं ब्रूहि गुणदोषान्सविस्तरान् । आर्षेयपौरुषेयाणां काव्यचिह्नपरीक्षणम् । कथं ज्ञेयं महाबुद्धे श्रोतुमिच्छामहे वयम्

Transliteration

ṛṣaya ūcuḥ | kathāyā lakṣaṇaṃ brūhi guṇadoṣānsavistarān | ārṣeyapauruṣeyāṇāṃ kāvyacihnaparīkṣaṇam | kathaṃ jñeyaṃ mahābuddhe śrotumicchāmahe vayam

Translation

ရိရှီတို့က ဆိုကြ၏— «ပဝါနကထာ၏ လက္ခဏာကို ပြောကြားပါ။ အကျိုးဂုဏ်နှင့် အပြစ်ဒोषတို့ကို အသေးစိတ်ရှင်းလင်းပါ။ ရိရှီမူလ (ārṣeya) နှင့် လူမူလ (pauruṣeya) စာတမ်းတို့ကို စိစစ်ရာတွင် ကဗျာလက္ခဏာများကို မည်သို့ စမ်းသပ်ရမည်နည်း။ အလွန်ဉာဏ်ကြီးသူရေ၊ အမှန်တကယ် မည်သို့ သိနိုင်သနည်း။ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ ကြားလိုပါသည်»။

Word by Word

• ऋषयः: sages
• ऋषयः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ऋषि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; Nominative plural

• ऊचुः: said
• ऊचुः: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच् (धातु)
• Form: लिट्-लकार (परोक्षभूत/Perfect), प्रथमपुरुष, बहुवचन; Perfect 3rd pl

• कथायाः: of a story/discourse
• कथायाः: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कथा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, षष्ठी-विभक्ति, एकवचन; Genitive singular

• लक्षणम्: characteristic/definition
• लक्षणम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: लक्षण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; Accusative singular

• ब्रूहि: tell (us)
• ब्रूहि: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ब्रू (धातु)
• Form: लोट्-लकार (आज्ञार्थ), मध्यमपुरुष, एकवचन; Imperative 2nd sg

• गुणदोषान्: merits and faults
• गुणदोषान्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: गुणदोष (प्रातिपदिक; गुण + दोष)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; Accusative plural

• सविस्तरान्: in detail
• सविस्तरान्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सविस्तर (प्रातिपदिक; स + विस्तर)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; Accusative plural; विशेषण (गुणदोषान्)

• आर्षेयपौरुषेयाणाम्: of (texts) that are seer-authored and human-authored
• आर्षेयपौरुषेयाणाम्: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: आर्षेयपौरुषेय (प्रातिपदिक; आर्षेय + पौरुषेय)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग (समूह/वर्ग), षष्ठी-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; Genitive plural; विशेषण (परीक्षणम्)

• काव्यचिह्नपरीक्षणम्: examination of poetic marks/features
• काव्यचिह्नपरीक्षणम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: काव्यचिह्नपरीक्षण (प्रातिपदिक; काव्य + चिह्न + परीक्षण)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; Nominative/Accusative singular (here as object/apposition)

• कथम्: how
• कथम्: Sambandha (Interrogative/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: कथम् (अव्यय)
• Form: प्रश्नार्थक-अव्यय (interrogative adverb)

• ज्ञेयम्: is to be known
• ज्ञेयम्: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ज्ञा (धातु) + यत् (कृदन्त; भाव्य/कर्तव्य)
• Form: कर्तव्यतार्थक कृदन्त (यत्), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; ‘to be known/should be known’

• महाबुद्धे: O great-minded one
• महाबुद्धे: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: महाबुद्धि (प्रातिपदिक; महा + बुद्धि)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन-विभक्ति, एकवचन; Vocative singular

• श्रोतुम्: to hear
• श्रोतुम्: Prayojana (Purpose/प्रयोजन)
• Type: Verb
• Root: श्रु (धातु) + तुमुन् (कृदन्त)
• Form: तुमुनन्त (infinitive)

• इच्छामहे: we desire
• इच्छामहे: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: इष् (धातु; इच्छति)
• Form: लट्-लकार (वर्तमान), उत्तमपुरुष, बहुवचन; Present indicative 1st pl (आत्मनेपद)

• वयम्: we
• वयम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: प्रथमा-विभक्ति, बहुवचन; Nominative plural

Speaker

Ṛṣayaḥ (the sages)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Sūta

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A semicircle of sages respectfully interrogates Sūta, palms joined, requesting a systematic method to evaluate sacred narratives and distinguish seer-origin from human composition.

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Seek discernment (viveka) in sacred listening—knowing the marks of authentic, dharma-aligned narration.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The immediate verse frames a teaching within the Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya setting, but does not yet praise a specific sub-tīrtha.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; the verse requests doctrinal criteria for evaluating sacred narratives.