Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 31

Devanagari script

क्षयव्याधिप्रणाशाय पृच्छ मानश्चिकित्सकान् । औषधानि विचित्राणि प्रकुर्वाणो जितेन्द्रियः

Transliteration

kṣayavyādhipraṇāśāya pṛccha mānaścikitsakān | auṣadhāni vicitrāṇi prakurvāṇo jitendriyaḥ

Translation

เพื่อให้โรคซูบผอมสิ้นไป เขาได้ไต่ถามแพทย์ทั้งหลาย และด้วยการสำรวมอินทรีย์ จึงปรุงโอสถนานาประการ

Word by Word

• क्षयव्याधिप्रणाशाय: for the destruction of the wasting disease
• क्षयव्याधिप्रणाशाय: Sampradana (Recipient/Purpose)
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षय (प्रातिपदिक) + व्याधि (प्रातिपदिक) + प्रणाश (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, चतुर्थी (4th/Dative), एकवचन; अर्थः—‘क्षय-व्याधेः प्रणाशः’ तस्मै (प्रयोजन/सम्प्रदान)

• पृच्छ: ask
• पृच्छ: Kriya (Action)
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्रच्छ् (धातु)
• Form: लोट् (Imperative), मध्यमपुरुष (2nd person), एकवचन; परस्मैपदम्

• मानः: a man (the person)
• मानः: Karta (Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मान (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन; ‘मान’ = मनुष्यः/व्यक्तिः (here: the one who asks)

• चिकित्सकान्: physicians
• चिकित्सकान्: Karma (Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: चिकित्सक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), बहुवचन

• औषधानि: medicines
• औषधानि: Karma (Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: औषध (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), बहुवचन

• विचित्राणि: various/strange
• विचित्राणि: Visheshana (Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विचित्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), बहुवचन; विशेषणम्—औषधानि

• प्रकुर्वाणः: doing/undertaking (them)
• प्रकुर्वाणः: Karta (Agent/Doer)
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र + कृ (धातु)
• Form: वर्तमानकाले शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (Present active participle), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; परस्मैपदी; ‘प्रकुर्वन्’ = कुर्वन्

• जितेन्द्रियः: one who has conquered his senses
• जितेन्द्रियः: Visheshana (Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जित (कृदन्त; √जि धातु) + इन्द्रिय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; बहुव्रीहिः—‘जितानि इन्द्रियाणि यस्य सः’

Speaker

Narrator (contextual; Sūta)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: The Moon-god, pale and diminished, consults physicians in a hermitage-like clinic; jars of herbs and decoctions surround him as he prepares medicines with restrained demeanor, yet anxiety lingers.

Characters & Entities

• Candra
• Cikitsaka (physicians)
• Kṣaya (disease)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Even while seeking worldly remedies, self-control is praised; Purāṇic narratives often guide the sufferer from medicine toward sacred refuge.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No tīrtha is named in this verse; it prepares the ground for a later sacred solution within the māhātmya.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No explicit rite is prescribed; only the act of seeking cure and practicing sense-restraint is described.