Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 19

Devanagari script

तत्यजे यैरियं काशी महाशीर्वादभूभिका । तेषां करतलान्मुक्तिः प्राप्तापि परितो गता

Transliteration

tatyaje yairiyaṃ kāśī mahāśīrvādabhūbhikā | teṣāṃ karatalānmuktiḥ prāptāpi parito gatā

Translation

凡舍弃此迦尸——由大加持所成之圣地——者，解脱虽已得，亦自其掌中滑落，四散而去。

Word by Word

• तत्यजे: (they) abandoned
• तत्यजे: Kriya (Verb/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: त्यज् (धातु)
• Form: लिट्-लकार (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन (Singular), परस्मैपद; (अत्र) “has been abandoned/was abandoned”

• यैः: by whom
• यैः: Karana (Agent-instrumental/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), बहुवचन (Plural); सम्बन्धसूचक (relative pronoun)

• इयम्: this
• इयम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: इदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन (Singular)

• काशी: Kāśī
• काशी: Karta (Apposition/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: काशी (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन (Singular)

• महाशीर्वादभूभिका: (the) great blessing-ground (source of great blessings)
• महाशीर्वादभूभिका: Karta (Predicate/appositional noun/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मह + आशीर्वाद + भूभिका (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन (Singular); “महान् आशीर्वादः (यस्याः सा)” भावे कर्मधारय-प्रायः

• तेषाम्: of them
• तेषाम्: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), बहुवचन (Plural)

• करतलात्: from the palm (of the hand)
• करतलात्: Apadana (Source/अपादान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: करतल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, पञ्चमी (5th/Ablative), एकवचन (Singular)

• मुक्तिः: liberation
• मुक्तिः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मुक्ति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन (Singular)

• प्राप्ता: attained
• प्राप्ता: Karta (Predicate adjective/कर्ता-विशेषण)
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र + आप् (धातु)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त (past passive participle), स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन (Singular)

• अपि: even though
• अपि: Avyaya (Particle/अव्यय)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अपि (अव्यय)
• Form: निपात (particle), “even/though”

• परितः: away, all around
• परितः: Kriya-viseshana (Adverb/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: परितः (अव्यय)
• Form: उपसर्गार्थक-अव्यय/क्रियाविशेषण (adverb), “around/away”

• गता: went away
• गता: Kriya (Predicate/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: गम् (धातु)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त (past passive participle), स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन (Singular)

Speaker

Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa narration, commonly Skanda to Agastya)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Śaunaka and ṛṣis

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A symbolic image: a radiant jewel labeled ‘mukti’ rests on an open palm, but as the person turns away from Kāśī’s blessed ground, the jewel slips and scatters like light in the wind.

Characters & Entities

• Kāśī
• Mukti (liberation)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Spiritual opportunity must be held with steadiness; abandoning a mokṣa-field like Kāśī is portrayed as letting liberation slip from one’s grasp.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Kāśī, praised as a land that itself embodies great benedictions.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; it is an exhortation not to forsake Kāśī and the path to mukti it represents.