Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 50

Devanagari script

अथवा वनरक्तानां तन्मृगाणां प्रजायते

Transliteration

athavā vanaraktānāṃ tanmṛgāṇāṃ prajāyate

Translation

หรือมิฉะนั้น (โมกษะนั้น) ก็คงบังเกิดแก่กวางและสรรพสัตว์ผู้ผูกใจอยู่กับพงไพร

Word by Word

• अथवा: or else
• अथवा: Sambandha (Connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अथवा (अव्यय)
• Form: विकल्पार्थक-अव्यय (disjunctive particle: 'or else')

• वनरक्तानाम्: of those attached to the forest
• वनरक्तानाम्: Sambandha (Genitive relation)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वन-रक्त (प्रातिपदिक); समासः: वन + रक्त
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी-विभक्ति (Genitive/6th), बहुवचन (Plural)

• तत्: of that
• तत्: Sambandha (Genitive relation)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी-विभक्ति (Genitive/6th), एकवचन (Singular)

• मृगाणाम्: of deer/animals
• मृगाणाम्: Sambandha (Genitive relation)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मृग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी-विभक्ति (Genitive/6th), बहुवचन (Plural)

• प्रजायते: is born/arises
• प्रजायते: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: जन् (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (Present), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन (Singular), आत्मनेपद

Speaker

Unspecified (continuation of Śuka’s argumentative sequence by context)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A brief illustrative image: deer and forest beasts in a tranquil woodland, juxtaposed with the implied human seeker—highlighting the absurdity of ‘place alone gives mokṣa’.

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Merely living in the forest does not confer liberation; spiritual attainment is not a matter of location alone.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No specific tīrtha is named; “forest” is used as a general symbol of ascetic life.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; it is a rhetorical critique of assuming mokṣa from external circumstances.