Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 30

Devanagari script

गोदावर्य्यां भवेत्पुण्यं वसतो वर्षसंख्यया । तत्फलं समवाप्नोति गोमतीसेवनाद्द्विजाः

Transliteration

godāvaryyāṃ bhavetpuṇyaṃ vasato varṣasaṃkhyayā | tatphalaṃ samavāpnoti gomatīsevanāddvijāḥ

Translation

โอ้ทวิชะทั้งหลาย บุญที่เกิดจากการพำนัก ณ ฝั่งโคทาวรีนานนับปี ผลนั้นเองย่อมได้มาเพียงด้วยการบำเพ็ญรับใช้และสักการะแม่น้ำโคมตีอันศักดิ์สิทธิ์

Word by Word

• godāvaryām: in the Godāvarī
• godāvaryām: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: godāvarī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (Locative/7th), एकवचन (Singular)

• bhavet: would be / becomes
• bhavet: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: bhū (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ्-लकार (Optative), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन (Singular), परस्मैपद

• puṇyam: merit
• puṇyam: Karta (Predicate nominal/कर्ता-समानााधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: puṇya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति (Nominative/1st), एकवचन (Singular)

• vasataḥ: of one who dwells
• vasataḥ: Sambandha (Genitive of agent/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Verb
• Root: vas (धातु)
• Form: शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (present active participle), पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी-विभक्ति (Genitive/6th), एकवचन (Singular)

• varṣasaṃkhyayā: by (a count of) years / for many years
• varṣasaṃkhyayā: Karana (Measure/means/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: varṣa-saṃkhyā (प्रातिपदिक; वर्ष + संख्या)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, तृतीया-विभक्ति (Instrumental/3rd), एकवचन (Singular)

• tat: that
• tat: Karma (Object qualifier/कर्म-विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति (Accusative/2nd), एकवचन (Singular); विशेषण (qualifier)

• phalam: fruit/result
• phalam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: phala (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति (Accusative/2nd), एकवचन (Singular)

• samavāpnoti: attains
• samavāpnoti: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: sam-ava-āp (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (Present), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन (Singular), परस्मैपद

• gomatīsevanāt: from serving/visiting the Gomatī
• gomatīsevanāt: Hetu (Cause/हेतु)
• Type: Noun
• Root: gomatī-sevana (प्रातिपदिक; गोमती + सेवन)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, पञ्चमी-विभक्ति (Ablative/5th), एकवचन (Singular)

• dvijāḥ: O Brahmins
• dvijāḥ: Sambodhana/Anuvada (Addressed audience/सम्बोधन-प्राय)
• Type: Noun
• Root: dvija (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति (Nominative/1st), बहुवचन (Plural)

Speaker

Sūta (deduced from Prabhāsakhaṇḍa māhātmya-style narration)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Gomatī (Dvārakā)

Type: ghat

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Dvijāḥ (twice-born) as addressed audience

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A devotee repeatedly visits the Gomatī ghāṭa, sweeping steps, offering water and lamps, greeting brāhmaṇas; a faint overlay shows distant Godāvarī landscapes symbolically ‘contained’ within Gomatī’s sanctity.

Characters & Entities

• Godāvarī
• Gomatī

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Devotional contact and service to a powerful tīrtha can bestow vast merit, even comparable to long austerities elsewhere.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The Gomati river/tīrtha associated with Dvārakā is praised as exceptionally merit-giving.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Tīrtha-sevā—reverent attendance upon and devotional association with the Gomati.