Shloka 91 - Adhyaya 11 - Purva Ardha - Kashi Khanda | Tamil | Vedapath

Vyasa

Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 91

Devanagari script

हा कालबालकवती किमुतेन राज्ञी त्वत्कालतां न हृतवान्नसुताननेंदुः । बालेति कोमलमृणाल लतांगलीलं दंभोलिनिष्ठुरकठोरकुठारदंष्ट्रः

Transliteration

hā kālabālakavatī kimutena rājñī tvatkālatāṃ na hṛtavānnasutānaneṃduḥ | bāleti komalamṛṇāla latāṃgalīlaṃ daṃbholiniṣṭhurakaṭhorakuṭhāradaṃṣṭraḥ

Translation

அய்யோ—காலம் அவளைப் பிள்ளையற்றவளாக்கியது! அப்படியெனில் இந்த அரசியின் நிலை என்ன—மகன் முகச்சந்திரன் அவளின் உயிர்ச் சுடரைப் பறிக்கவில்லையா? ‘குழந்தை!’—ஆயினும் தாமரைநார், கொடிபோல் மென்மையான உடல்-இயக்கத்தை காலம் தாக்கியது; அதன் பற்கள் வஜ்ரம்போல் கடினம், கோடாரிபோல் கொடுமை, வாள்போல் நிஷ்டூரம்.

Word by Word

हाalas

कालबालकवतीshe who has (a) time-doomed child

किम्what?

उतindeed / then

एनेनby this

राज्ञीthe queen

त्वत्कालताम्your ‘time-ness’ / your being Time (death)

नnot

हृतवान्has taken away

नnot

सुताननेन्दुःthe moon of her son's face (i.e., her son)

बालO child

इतिthus

कोमलमृणालtender like a lotus-stalk

लतांगलीलम्playful/graceful like a creeper-bodied (one)

दंभोलिनिष्ठुरकठोरकुठारदंष्ट्रःone whose fangs are like a hard thunderbolt-axe (i.e., cruel death)

Speaker

Narrator/lamentspeaker within the story (describing the queen’s grief)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A queen clutches her chest, staring at the imagined ‘moon-face’ of her son; Kāla is personified with thunderbolt/axe/blade-like fangs striking the tender lotus-stalk body of the child.

Characters & Entities

Kāla

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

It stresses impermanence: Time spares none, urging the seeker toward the deathless refuge praised throughout the Kāśī Khaṇḍa.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Not named in the verse; the larger Kāśī Khaṇḍa context points to Kāśī as the sacred place where death is transformed into liberation.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None explicitly.