Shloka 2
Nāga-prādhānya-nāma-kathana
Principal Nāga Names Enumerated
कश्यपस्य द्विजातेश्व कथं वै पक्षिराट् सुतः । अधृष्य: सर्वभूतानामवध्यश्चाभवत् कथम्,कश्यपजी तो ब्राह्मण हैं, उनका पुत्र पक्षिराज कैसे हुआ? साथ ही वह समस्त प्राणियोंके लिये दुर्धर्ष एवं अवध्य कैसे हो गया?
śaunaka uvāca | kaśyapasya dvijāteśva kathaṃ vai pakṣirāṭ sutaḥ | adhṛṣyaḥ sarvabhūtānām avadhyaś cābhavat katham ||
Śaunaka sprach: „O Vornehmster unter den Zweimalgeborenen, wie konnte Kaśyapa – obgleich ein Brāhmaṇa – einen Sohn haben, der König der Vögel war? Und wie wurde dieser Sohn für alle Wesen unangreifbar und unerschlagbar?“
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dhārmic inquiry into how extraordinary power and invulnerability arise—typically through lineage, tapas, and boons—inviting reflection on the sources and limits of strength within cosmic order rather than mere physical might.
Śaunaka, addressing a foremost brāhmaṇa narrator, asks for the backstory: how Kaśyapa’s son became the ‘king of birds’ and why he was regarded as unassailable and unslayable by all beings, setting up an explanatory account of that figure’s origin and powers.