Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 31

Devanagari script

क्षयव्याधिप्रणाशाय पृच्छ मानश्चिकित्सकान् । औषधानि विचित्राणि प्रकुर्वाणो जितेन्द्रियः

Transliteration

kṣayavyādhipraṇāśāya pṛccha mānaścikitsakān | auṣadhāni vicitrāṇi prakurvāṇo jitendriyaḥ

Translation

دق کے مرض کے زوال کی آرزو سے اُس نے حکیموں سے پوچھا؛ اور ضبطِ نفس کے ساتھ طرح طرح کی دوائیں تیار کرنے لگا۔

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.