Shloka 21

Go-mahātmyam: Pavitrāṇāṃ Pavitraṃ

Cows and Ghee as Supreme Purifiers

Devanagari script

तत्तेजस्तु ततो रौद्रं कपिलास्ता विशाम्पते

Transliteration

tattejastu tato raudraṃ kapilāstā viśāmpate

Translation

ভীষ্ম বললেন—তখন সেই তেজ রুদ্ররূপ ধারণ করল, আর তারা সকলেই কপিলবর্ণ হয়ে উঠল, হে প্রজাপতি।

Word by Word

• तत्: that
• तत्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• तेजः: splendor, energy
• तेजः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: तेजस्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• तु: but, however
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• ततः: from that, thence
• ततः: Apadana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः

• रौद्रम्: fierce, wrathful
• रौद्रम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: रौद्र
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• कपिलाः: tawny, brownish
• कपिलाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कपिल
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• ताः: those (f.)
• ताः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• विशाम्: of the people, of the clans
• Type: Noun
• Root: विश्
• Form: Feminine, Genitive, Plural

• पते: O lord
• Type: Noun
• Root: पति
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• viśāmpati (the king addressed, i.e., Yudhiṣṭhira)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how accumulated spiritual or cosmic energy (tejas) can shift into a fierce, Rudra-like force (raudra) when conditions change—implying that power must be governed by restraint and dharma, especially in a king’s ethical horizon.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma continues a descriptive account in which a previously mentioned radiance intensifies into a terrible form, and the referenced beings/objects take on a tawny (kapila) coloration, while addressing the king (Yudhiṣṭhira) as ‘viśāmpati’.