Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 69

Devanagari script

यावन्न चलते कालो यज्ञयानसमुद्भवः

Transliteration

yāvanna calate kālo yajñayānasamudbhavaḥ

Translation

ตราบใดกาลเวลาไม่เคลื่อนไปข้างหน้า กระแสที่บังเกิดจากพิธียัญญะก็ยังดำรงอยู่…

Word by Word

• yāvat: as long as / until
• yāvat: Sambandha (Temporal relation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yāvat (प्रातिपदिक/अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; कालपरिमाणवाचक-सम्बन्धे (temporal limit marker: 'as long as/until')

• na: not
• na: Pratiṣedha (Negation/निषेध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na (अव्यय)
• Form: निषेधार्थक-अव्यय (negation particle)

• calate: moves / proceeds
• calate: Kriyā (Predicate action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: cal (चल् धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (Present), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन (singular), आत्मनेपद

• kālaḥ: time
• kālaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kāla (काल प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति (Nominative/1st), एकवचन

• yajñayānasamudbhavaḥ: arisen from the sacrificial vehicle
• yajñayānasamudbhavaḥ: Viśeṣaṇa (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: yajña (यज्ञ) + yāna (यान) + samudbhava (समुद्भव) (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति (Nominative/1st), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष-समासः (यज्ञयानात् समुद्भवः = arising from the sacrificial vehicle)

Speaker

Unspecified (fragmentary verse; speaker not indicated in snippet)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A sacrificial arena where the ‘movement of time’ is personified as a wheel or flowing current around the yajña; priests pause as a portent suggests a liminal moment before a decisive divine pronouncement.

Characters & Entities

• Kāla (Time)
• Yajña

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Sacred rites are time-sensitive; dharmic action must be completed within the proper ritual window.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No site is named in this fragment; it belongs to a broader Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya chapter.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

It alludes to completing or advancing the yajña-process without delay, though the line is incomplete here.