Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 21

Devanagari script

भूतेश भगवान्विष्णुर्दैत्यानामन्तकाग्रणीः । स कस्माद्द्वारकां हित्वा प्रभासक्षेत्रमाश्रितः

Transliteration

bhūteśa bhagavānviṣṇurdaityānāmantakāgraṇīḥ | sa kasmāddvārakāṃ hitvā prabhāsakṣetramāśritaḥ

Translation

«ဘူတေရှာ အရှင်ရေ၊ ဘဂဝန် ဗိဿဏု—ဒိုင်တျာတို့ကို ဖျက်ဆီးရာ၌ အရှေ့ဆုံးသူ—အဘယ်ကြောင့် ဒွာရကာကို စွန့်၍ ပရဘာသ သန့်ရှင်းရာကွင်း၌ ခိုလှုံခဲ့သနည်း»။

Word by Word

• भूतेश: O Lord of beings
• भूतेश: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूतेश (प्रातिपदिक: भूत + ईश)
• Form: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (भूतानाम् ईशः); पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (8th), एकवचन

• भगवान्: the Lord
• भगवान्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भगवत् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन

• विष्णुः: Viṣṇu
• विष्णुः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: विष्णु (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; ‘भगवान्’ इत्यस्य अप्पोजिशन्

• दैत्यानाम्: of the demons
• दैत्यानाम्: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दैत्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/सम्बन्ध), बहुवचन

• अन्तक-अग्रणीः: the foremost destroyer (of demons)
• अन्तक-अग्रणीः: Karta (Subject complement/कर्ता-विशेषण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अन्तक (प्रातिपदिक) + अग्रणी (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष (अन्तकः इव/अन्तकस्य अग्रणीः—‘leader as death’); पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; ‘विष्णुः’ इत्यस्य विशेषणम्

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

• कस्मात्: from what (cause)/why
• कस्मात्: Apadana (Source/Reason/अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: किम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं/नपुंसक, पञ्चमी (5th/अपादान), एकवचन; प्रश्नार्थक

• द्वारकाम्: Dvārakā
• द्वारकाम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्वारका (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• हित्वा: having left
• हित्वा: Purvakala (Prior action/पूर्वकाल)
• Type: Verb
• Root: हा (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्ययकृदन्त (gerund); ‘having abandoned’

• प्रभास-क्षेत्रम्: the Prabhāsa sacred field
• प्रभास-क्षेत्रम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रभास (प्रातिपदिक) + क्षेत्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष (प्रभासस्य क्षेत्रम्); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• आश्रितः: has resorted to
• आश्रितः: Kriya (Predicate/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: आ-श्रि (धातु) → आश्रित (कृदन्त)
• Form: भूतकृदन्त (क्त); पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; कर्तरि प्रयोगः—‘has resorted to’

Speaker

Devī (Pārvatī)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (in contrast to Dvārakā)

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A questioning scene: the speaker addresses the Lord of beings, asking why Viṣṇu—slayer of Daityas—left Dvārakā and resorted to Prabhāsa; the imagery can foreshadow the coastal tīrtha and the transition from royal city to sacred field.

Characters & Entities

• Devī
• Śiva (Bhūteśa)
• Viṣṇu
• Daityas
• Dvārakā
• Prabhāsa-kṣetra

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Even the supreme protector (Viṣṇu) honors the divine timing and sanctity of kṣetras; holy places are stages where cosmic purposes unfold.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Prabhāsa-kṣetra is foregrounded as significant enough to draw Viṣṇu away from Dvārakā.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; it is a theological question that motivates the forthcoming māhātmya explanation.