Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 7

Devanagari script

यथायथा करं भूपास्ता मां गृह्णंति लोलुपाः । तथातथा मनःक्षोभो हृदये संप्रजायते

Transliteration

yathāyathā karaṃ bhūpāstā māṃ gṛhṇaṃti lolupāḥ | tathātathā manaḥkṣobho hṛdaye saṃprajāyate

Translation

每当那些贪婪的君王从我这里征取赋税，心中便随其多少而生起不安的骚动。

Word by Word

• yathā-yathā: as...as/whenever
• yathā-yathā: Kriya-visheshana (Adverbial correlate/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yathā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय-युग्म (reduplicated correlatives), क्रियाविशेषण (adverbial)

• karam: tax/tribute
• karam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kara (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन

• bhūpāḥ: kings
• bhūpāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bhūpa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन

• tāḥ: them (women/people)
• tāḥ: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), बहुवचन; सर्वनाम

• mām: me
• mām: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: asmad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: उत्तमपुरुष-सर्वनाम, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन

• gṛhṇanti: take/seize
• gṛhṇanti: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √grah (धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष (3rd), बहुवचन

• lolupāḥ: greedy
• lolupāḥ: Visheshana (Adjectival modifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: lolupa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन; विशेषण

• tathā-tathā: so...so/accordingly
• tathā-tathā: Kriya-visheshana (Adverbial correlate/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tathā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय-युग्म (correlative), क्रियाविशेषण

• manaḥ-kṣobhaḥ: mental agitation
• manaḥ-kṣobhaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: manas (प्रातिपदिक) + kṣobha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (manasaḥ kṣobhaḥ)

• hṛdaye: in the heart
• hṛdaye: Adhikarana (Locus/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: hṛdaya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th/Locative), एकवचन

• saṃprajāyate: arises/is produced
• saṃprajāyate: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: sam-pra-√jan (धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), आत्मनेपद, प्रथमपुरुष (3rd), एकवचन

Speaker

A king/ruler (listener later addresses Vasiṣṭha; speaker not explicitly named in this snippet)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Type: kshetra

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A weary taxpayer (or personified ‘I’—a subject/land/merchant) offering coins while a greedy king’s collectors seize more; the heart area shown symbolically with ripples or agitation, contrasting with a distant calm tīrtha river.

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Greed-driven governance disturbs the ruler’s own heart; inner turmoil signals deviation from dharma.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

This verse sets up the king’s distress before asking for the supreme tīrtha; the specific tīrtha is not named in this line.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None here; it is a moral reflection on taxation and mental agitation.