Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 47

Devanagari script

पूर्वजन्मकृतैः पुण्यैस्त्यक्त्वा लोभादिकं हरे । व्युदस्य सर्वविघ्नौघान्गंगां प्राप्नोति पुण्यवान्

Transliteration

pūrvajanmakṛtaiḥ puṇyaistyaktvā lobhādikaṃ hare | vyudasya sarvavighnaughāngaṃgāṃ prāpnoti puṇyavān

Translation

پچھلے جنموں کی کمائی ہوئی نیکیوں کے زور سے نیک بندہ لالچ وغیرہ چھوڑ دیتا ہے؛ سب رکاوٹوں کے سیلاب کو ہٹا کر مقدّس گنگا کو پا لیتا ہے۔

Word by Word

• pūrvajanma-kṛtaiḥ: by merits done in a former birth
• pūrvajanma-kṛtaiḥ: Karana (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: pūrva (प्रातिपदिक) + janman (प्रातिपदिक) + kṛta (कृ धातु, क्त-प्रत्यय; कृदन्त)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग/नपुंसकलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/करण), बहुवचन; विशेषण—‘puṇyaiḥ’ इत्यस्य

• puṇyaiḥ: by merits
• puṇyaiḥ: Karana (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: puṇya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/करण), बहुवचन

• tyaktvā: having abandoned
• tyaktvā: Kriya (Non-finite verb/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: tyaj (त्यज् धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (Gerund/Absolutive) — ‘having abandoned’

• lobha-ādikam: greed and the like
• lobha-ādikam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: lobha (प्रातिपदिक) + ādika (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• hare: O Hari
• hare: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: hari (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (Vocative/सम्बोधन), एकवचन

• vyudasya: having driven away
• vyudasya: Kriya (Non-finite verb/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: vi + ud + as (अस् धातु; ‘to throw off/remove’)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (Gerund/Absolutive) — ‘having removed/repelled’

• sarva-vighna-oghān: all floods/masses of obstacles
• sarva-vighna-oghān: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sarva (प्रातिपदिक) + vighna (प्रातिपदिक) + ogha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), बहुवचन

• gaṅgām: Ganga
• gaṅgām: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: gaṅgā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/कर्म), एकवचन

• prāpnoti: attains
• prāpnoti: Kriya (Predicate/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: pra + āp (आप् धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• puṇyavān: the meritorious one
• puṇyavān: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: puṇya (प्रातिपदिक) + vat (वत्-प्रत्यय)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/कर्ता), एकवचन; विशेषण—कर्तरि (implicit subject)

Speaker

Skanda (deduced, Kāśīkhaṇḍa context)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Gaṅgā (Kāśī)

Type: ghat

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A pilgrim, humbled by prior-life merit, renounces greed and walks through dissolving obstacles toward the luminous Gaṅgā at Kāśī’s ghāṭas; unseen vighnas scatter like dark clouds.

Characters & Entities

• Hari (Viṣṇu)
• Gaṅgā

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Past merits mature into renunciation of greed, and that inner purification enables one to reach the Gaṅgā and overcome obstacles.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The Gaṅgā as a tīrtha, especially in the Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) sacred landscape.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No explicit rite is prescribed; the verse emphasizes ethical purification (abandoning greed) as the condition for attaining Gaṅgā.