Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 1
Varuṇābhiṣeka–Agni-anveṣaṇa–Kaubera-tīrtha
Varuṇa’s Consecration; Search for Agni; Kaubera Sacred Site
/ नस्जमा न (0) आज अन+- - एक प्रयुत दस लाखके बराबर होता है। षट्चत्वारिशो< ध्याय: मातृकाओंका परिचय तथा स्कन्ददेवकी रणयात्रा और उनके द्वारा तारकासुर
Vaiśampāyana uvāca | śṛṇu mātṛgaṇān rājan kumārānucarān imān | kīrtyamānān mayā vīra sapatnagaṇasūdanān ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O king, listen as I recount these companies of the Mothers (Mātṛkās), attendants of Kumāra (Skanda/Kārttikeya). O hero, as I name them, know them to be destroyers of hostile hosts—powers invoked in the moral imagination of war to subdue arrogance and protect righteous order.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a sacred enumeration: naming divine powers is presented as meaningful speech that aligns the listener with protective forces. Ethically, it suggests that righteous strength is not merely personal prowess but participation in a larger order that restrains hostile, disruptive forces.
Vaiśampāyana begins a section introducing the Mātṛkās—divine Mother-goddess groups—described as attendants of Kumāra (Skanda/Kārttikeya). He tells the king to listen as he recites their names and characterizes them as destroyers of enemy hosts.
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