Shloka 30

कुमाराभिषेकप्रश्नः — Inquiry into Kumāra (Skanda) Investiture at Sarasvatī

Devanagari script

अरुणामानयामास स्वां तनूं पुरुषर्षभ । तस्यां ते राक्षसा: स्नात्वा तनूस्त्यक्त्वा दिवंगता:

Transliteration

aruṇām ānayāmāsa svāṃ tanūṃ puruṣarṣabha | tasyāṃ te rākṣasāḥ snātvā tanūs tyaktvā divaṃgatāḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „O Stier unter den Menschen, er ließ seinen eigenen Leib eine rötliche Färbung annehmen. In jener (rötlichen Gestalt/Essenz) badend, legten diese Rākṣasas ihre Körper ab und gelangten in den Himmel.“

Word by Word

अरुणाम्Aruṇā (a woman named Aruṇā)

आनयामासbrought, caused to be brought

स्वाम्his own

तनूम्body

पुरुषर्षभO bull among men (best of men)

तस्याम्in her / in that (body)

तेthey

राक्षसाःrākṣasas, demons

स्नात्वाhaving bathed

तनूःbodies

त्यक्त्वाhaving abandoned

दिवम्heaven

गताःgone (to)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Rākṣasas

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the purificatory and transformative power of contact with a sanctifying medium: even beings marked by fierce or harmful tendencies (Rākṣasas) can attain a higher destiny when they undergo purification and relinquish bodily attachment, suggesting that spiritual elevation is possible through the right conditions and acts.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana narrates that a figure caused his body to take on a ruddy (aruṇa) form; the Rākṣasas bathed in that and, as a result, abandoned their bodies and attained heaven—an episode describing a miraculous purification leading to celestial ascent.