Skanda Purana — Avanti Khanda, Shloka 2

Devanagari script

नारायणेन शुश्रूषा शूलस्थेन कृता पुरा । तत्र स्नात्वा महाराज मुच्यते पापकञ्चुकात्

Transliteration

nārāyaṇena śuśrūṣā śūlasthena kṛtā purā | tatra snātvā mahārāja mucyate pāpakañcukāt

Translation

กาลก่อน นารายณะได้บำเพ็ญการปรนนิบัติรับใช้ ณ ที่นั้น ขณะประทับอยู่บนหลักแหลม (ศูล) เมื่ออาบน้ำชำระในสถานที่นั้นแล้ว ข้าแต่มหาราช บุคคลย่อมหลุดพ้นจากอาภรณ์แห่งบาป

Word by Word

• nārāyaṇena: by Nārāyaṇa
• nārāyaṇena: Kartr̥ (Agent in passive/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: nārāyaṇa (नारायण प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), एकवचन

• śuśrūṣā: service/attendance
• śuśrūṣā: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: śuśrūṣā (शुश्रूषा प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन

• śūla-sthena: by (him) who was on the stake
• śūla-sthena: Kartr̥ (Agent in passive/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: śūla + stha (स्थ) (प्रातिपदिक-समूह)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), एकवचन; तत्पुरुषः (śūle sthena = by one situated on the stake/trident)

• kṛtā: was done
• kṛtā: Kriya (Action notion/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √kṛ (कृ धातु) + kta (क्त)
• Form: कृदन्त (past passive participle), स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन; ‘done/made’

• purā: formerly
• purā: Sambandha (Temporal/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: purā (पुरा)
• Form: अव्यय; कालवाचक (adverb of time: formerly)

• tatra: there
• tatra: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tatra (तत्र)
• Form: अव्यय; देशवाचक (adverb of place: there)

• snātvā: having bathed
• snātvā: Purvakala (Prior action/पूर्वकाल)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √snā (स्ना धातु) + ktvā (क्त्वा)
• Form: अव्ययकृदन्त (gerund/क्त्वान्त), ‘having bathed’

• mahā-rāja: O great king
• mahā-rāja: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahā + rājan (राजन्) (प्रातिपदिक-समूह)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (Vocative), एकवचन; कर्मधारयः (mahān rājā = great king)

• mucyate: is freed
• mucyate: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √muc (मुच् धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), आत्मनेपद, प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन; कर्मणि प्रयोग (passive sense: is released)

• pāpa-kañcukāt: from the cloak of sin
• pāpa-kañcukāt: Apadana (Ablative/source/अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pāpa + kañcuka (कञ्चुक) (प्रातिपदिक-समूह)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, पञ्चमी (5th/Ablative), एकवचन; तत्पुरुषः (pāpasya kañcukaḥ = cloak/covering of sin)

Speaker

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya (continuation of narration)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Māṇḍavya-Nārāyaṇa-siddha tīrtha (unnamed here)

Type: tirtha

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Great King (mahārāja)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A flashback tableau: Nārāyaṇa performing devoted service while impaled/affixed on a stake (śūla), conveying endurance; foreground pilgrims bathe in the river, symbolically shedding a dark cloak of sin.

Characters & Entities

• Nārāyaṇa
• Snāna
• Tīrtha

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Selfless service and severe endurance are sanctified, and tīrtha-bathing performed at such a charged place is said to dissolve accumulated sin.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The same Revā Khaṇḍa tīrtha linked with Nārāyaṇa’s śuśrūṣā and the tradition of being śūlastha; it is praised for freeing one from sin.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Snāna (bathing) at that tīrtha is prescribed as the act that grants release from pāpa.