Shloka 49

Devanagari script

जिन्होंने तीनों लोकोंका हित करनेके लिये यज्ञमय वराहका स्वरूप धारण करके इस पृथ्वीको रसातलसे ऊपर उठाया था, उन वीर्यस्वरूप भगवान्‌को प्रणाम है ।। यः शेते योगमास्थाय पर्यड्के नागभूषिते | फणासहस्ररचिते तस्मै निद्रात्मने नम:,जो अपनी योगमायाका आश्रय लेकर शेषनागके हजार फनोंसे बने हुए पलंगपर शयन करते हैं, उन निद्रास्वरूप परमात्माको नमस्कार है

Transliteration

yaḥ śete yogam āsthāya paryaṅke nāgabhūṣite | phaṇāsahasraracite tasmai nidrātmane namaḥ ||

Translation

যিনি যোগমায়ার আশ্রয়ে শेषনাগের সহস্র ফণায় গঠিত শয্যায় শয়ন করেন—সেই নিদ্রাস্বরূপ পরমাত্মাকে প্রণাম।

Word by Word

यःwho

शेतेlies down, reclines

योगम्yoga (concentration/union)

आस्थायhaving resorted to, having assumed

पर्यङ्केon a couch/bed

नागभूषितेadorned with a serpent (Nāga)

फणासहस्ररचितेmade of a thousand hoods

तस्मैto him

निद्रात्मनेto the one whose nature is sleep (sleep-embodied)

नमःsalutation

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma (speaker)

Paramatman / Bhagavan (the Supreme Lord, Vishnu/Narayana implied)

Yoga (yogic power/yogamaya implied)

Shesha-naga (Ananta)

Serpent hoods (phaṇā-sahasra)

Couch/bed (paryaṅka)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches reverent recognition of the Supreme Lord’s quiet sovereignty: even in ‘sleep’ he sustains and protects the cosmos through yoga. Ethically, it models humility and devotion—acknowledging that worldly order and welfare rest on a higher, steady principle beyond human power.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva, Bhishma is instructing and also offering hymnic salutations. Here he praises the Lord (Vishnu/Narayana) as reclining on Śeṣa’s thousand-hooded couch, invoking the image of cosmic repose that underlies creation’s stability.