Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 98

Devanagari script

न जानाति दिनं पित्र्यं पक्षमेकं निरन्तरम् । अन्यत्र भुंक्ते विप्रोऽसौ क्षयाहेऽपि समागते

Transliteration

na jānāti dinaṃ pitryaṃ pakṣamekaṃ nirantaram | anyatra bhuṃkte vipro'sau kṣayāhe'pi samāgate

Translation

พราหมณ์ผู้นั้นไม่รู้แม้วันบูชาบรรพชน และไม่รักษาปักษ์หนึ่งที่กำหนดแก่ปิตฤทั้งหลายโดยต่อเนื่อง แม้เมื่อวันกษยาหะมาถึง เขาก็ยังไปฉันที่อื่น แสดงความไม่เคารพต่อพิธีของบรรพชน

Word by Word

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

• jānāti: knows/recognizes
• jānāti: Kriyā (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √jñā (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (वर्तमान), परस्मैपद, प्रथम-पुरुष, एकवचन (present indicative, 3rd singular)

• dinam: day
• dinam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: dina (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन (neuter, accusative, singular)

• pitryam: ancestral (for the Pitṛs)
• pitryam: Viśeṣaṇa (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: pitrya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; विशेषण (neuter, accusative, singular; qualifying ‘dinam’)

• pakṣam: fortnight
• pakṣam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pakṣa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन (masculine, accusative, singular)

• ekam: one
• ekam: Viśeṣaṇa (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: eka (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; विशेषण (masculine, accusative, singular; qualifying ‘pakṣam’)

• nirantaram: continuously
• nirantaram: Kriyā-viśeṣaṇa (Adverbial/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: nirantara (प्रातिपदिक/अव्ययीभाववत् प्रयोग)
• Form: क्रियाविशेषण-अव्यय (adverb: continuously)

• anyatra: elsewhere/otherwise
• anyatra: Kriyā-viśeṣaṇa (Adverbial/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: anyatra (अव्यय)
• Form: देश/विषयवाचक-अव्यय (adverb: elsewhere/otherwise)

• bhuṃkte: eats
• bhuṃkte: Kriyā (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √bhuj (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकार (वर्तमान), आत्मनेपद, प्रथम-पुरुष, एकवचन (present indicative, 3rd singular, ātmanepada)

• vipraḥ: the Brahmin
• vipraḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vipra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन (masculine, nominative, singular)

• asau: that (man)
• asau: Karta (Apposition/कर्ता-समानाधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: adas (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन (pronoun; masculine, nominative, singular)

• kṣayāhe: on the day of kṣaya (inauspicious/waning day)
• kṣayāhe: Adhikaraṇa (Temporal locus/कालाधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kṣaya (प्रातिपदिक) + aha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तत्पुरुष-समास: ‘क्षयस्य अहः’; नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति, एकवचन (neuter, locative, singular)

• api: even
• api: Sambandha (Particle/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: api (अव्यय)
• Form: अपि-कारक-अव्यय (particle: even/also)

• samāgate: when (it) has come
• samāgate: Adhikaraṇa (Temporal locus/कालाधिकरण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: sam√āgam (धातु) + kta (कृत्)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त; सप्तमी-विभक्ति, एकवचन (locative singular; ‘when arrived/when occurred’)

Speaker

Unspecified narrator within Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa (deduced: Purāṇic narrator addressing the listener in the Vastrāpathakṣetra-māhātmya context)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Vastrāpatha (Prabhāsa-kṣetra)

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: nṛpottama

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A brāhmaṇa ignores the marked pitṛ-day; a calendar/pañcāṅga motif is shown; he eats at another house while elders gesture toward a prepared śrāddha space left unused; the narrator frames it as a moral lapse.

Characters & Entities

• Pitṛs

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Neglect of Pitṛ-dharma (ancestral observances) is portrayed as a serious lapse for a dvija; reverence to forefathers sustains dharma and auspiciousness.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The passage occurs in the Vastrāpathakṣetra-māhātmya within the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, situating the teaching in the sanctity-field of Prabhāsa and its sub-tīrtha Vastrāpatha.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

Observance of Pitṛ-related days/fortnight (pitrya dina, pitṛ-pakṣa) and proper conduct regarding food/rites on special lunar-day conditions (kṣaya-tithi).