Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 54

Devanagari script

भक्ष्यं नित्यमृतं ज्ञेयममृतं स्यादयाचितम् । मृतं तु वृद्ध्याजीवित्वं प्रमृतं कर्षणं स्मृतम्

Transliteration

bhakṣyaṃ nityamṛtaṃ jñeyamamṛtaṃ syādayācitam | mṛtaṃ tu vṛddhyājīvitvaṃ pramṛtaṃ karṣaṇaṃ smṛtam

Translation

အစာအဟာရကို ပုံမှန်လမ်းစဉ်ဖြင့် (အရှက်မဲ့မဟုတ်ဘဲ) ရရှိသည်ကို «ဣတ» ဟု သိရမည်၊ မတောင်းဆိုဘဲ ရရှိသည်ကို «အမရိတ» ဟု ခေါ်သည်။ အတိုးဖြင့် အသက်မွေးခြင်းကို «မရိတ» ဟု ခေါ်ပြီး၊ လယ်ယာစိုက်ပျိုး၍ (ထွန်ယက်၍) အသက်မွေးခြင်းကို «ပရမရိတ» ဟု မှတ်သားကြသည်။

Word by Word

• भक्ष्यम्: food; edible (thing)
• भक्ष्यम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भक्ष्य (प्रातिपदिक; √भक्ष् (धातु) से निष्पन्न)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन; संज्ञापद (that which is to be eaten)

• नित्यमृतम्: ‘nitya-mṛta’ (a defined category)
• नित्यमृतम्: Predicate/Viśeṣya-nirdeśa (सम्बन्ध/विशेष्यनिर्देश)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नित्य (प्रातिपदिक) + मृत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; कर्मधारयः—‘नित्यं मृतं’ इति (a kind of ‘mṛta’)

• ज्ञेयम्: to be known; should be understood
• ज्ञेयम्: Predicate adjective (विधेयविशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: ज्ञेय (कृदन्त; √ज्ञा (धातु) + यत्)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; विधिलिङ्गार्थक-भावः—‘ज्ञातव्यम्/should be known’ (gerundive)

• अमृतम्: ‘amṛta’ (a defined category)
• अमृतम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अमृत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; संज्ञापद (a category)

• स्यात्: would be; is (defined as)
• स्यात्: Kriyā (Verb/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √अस् (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (Optative), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; ‘would be/is defined as’

• अयाचितम्: unsolicited; not asked for
• अयाचितम्: Predicate adjective (विधेयविशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अयाचित (कृदन्त; √याच् (धातु) + क्त, नञ्-पूर्वक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; भूतकर्मणि कृदन्तः—‘not begged/unsolicited’

• मृतम्: ‘mṛta’ (a defined category)
• मृतम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मृत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; संज्ञापद (a category)

• तु: but; indeed
• तु: Discourse particle (निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; निपात (contrast/emphasis particle)

• वृद्ध्याजीवित्वम्: living by interest/usury
• वृद्ध्याजीवित्वम्: Predicate nominative (विधेय)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वृद्धि (प्रातिपदिक) + आजीवित्व (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः—‘वृद्ध्या आजीवित्वम्’ (livelihood by interest/usury)

• प्रमृतम्: ‘pramṛta’ (a defined category)
• प्रमृतम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रमृत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; संज्ञापद (a category)

• कर्षणम्: ploughing; agriculture
• कर्षणम्: Predicate nominative (विधेय)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्षण (प्रातिपदिक; √कृष् (धातु) से)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; क्रियानाम (ploughing/agriculture)

• स्मृतम्: is declared; is considered
• स्मृतम्: Predicate adjective (विधेयविशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: स्मृत (कृदन्त; √स्मृ (धातु) + क्त)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; भूतकर्मणि—‘is said/considered’

Speaker

Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa) to the sages (deduced)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A didactic tableau with four labeled bowls/containers: ṛta, amṛta, mṛta, pramṛta; icons show grain from honest work, a gift arriving unasked, an interest ledger, and a plough in a field.

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Even worldly earning is graded by purity; dharma distinguishes cleaner and harsher means of sustenance.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The teaching occurs within Prabhāsa-kṣetra’s māhātmya framework, reinforcing that sacred places demand disciplined living.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No specific ritual; it provides dharmic definitions used to judge livelihood choices.