Shloka 28

कार्त्तिकेयाभिषेकः — Consecration of Kārttikeya and the Enumeration of His Retinue

Devanagari script

बहुतेरे भूत जहाँ-तहाँ हिंसक जन्तु, साही, गोह, बकरी, भेड़ और गायोंके समान शरीर धारण करते थे ।। केचिच्छैलाम्बुदप्रख्याश्लक्रोद्यतगदायुधा: । केचिदञ्जनपुज्जा भा: केचिच्छवेताचलप्रभा:

Transliteration

kechic chailāmbudaprakhyāḥ śakr̥odyatagadāyudhāḥ | kechid añjanapuñjābhāḥ kechic chvetācalaprabhāḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: Unter jenen Wesen erschienen einige wie dunkle Berge und Regenwolken und schwangen hoch erhobene Keulen als Waffen; andere glichen Haufen von kollyriumschwarzer Finsternis; wieder andere strahlten wie weiße Gipfel. Das Bild macht deutlich, wie der Krieg Kräfte vieler Arten und Gestalten zusammenruft — furchterregend, überwältigend und in seiner Gewalt moralisch schwerwiegend.

Word by Word

• केचित्: some (persons/beings)
• केचित्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: क- (किम्-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• शैलाम्बुदप्रख्याः: resembling mountains and clouds
• शैलाम्बुदप्रख्याः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रख्य (प्र+ख्या) (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• शैल: mountain
• शैल: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शैल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Stem (in compound), —

• अम्बुद: cloud
• अम्बुद: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अम्बुद (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Stem (in compound), —

• उद्यत: raised, uplifted
• उद्यत: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: उद्यत (उद्+यम्) (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Stem (in compound), —

• गदायुधाः: having a mace as weapon
• गदायुधाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: गदायुध (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• गदा: mace
• गदा: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: गदा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Stem (in compound), —

• आयुध: weapon
• आयुध: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: आयुध (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Stem (in compound), —

• केचित्: some (others)
• केचित्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: क- (किम्-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• अञ्जनपुञ्जाभाः: having the appearance of heaps of collyrium (very dark)
• अञ्जनपुञ्जाभाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: आभा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• अञ्जन: collyrium, lampblack
• अञ्जन: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अञ्जन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Stem (in compound), —

• पुञ्ज: heap, mass
• पुञ्ज: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुञ्ज (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Stem (in compound), —

• केचित्: some (others)
• केचित्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: क- (किम्-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• श्वेताचलप्रभाः: having the radiance of white mountains
• श्वेताचलप्रभाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रभा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• श्वेत: white
• श्वेत: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: श्वेत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: —, Stem (in compound), —

• अचल: mountain
• अचल: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अचल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Stem (in compound), —

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• gadā (mace)
• śaila/acala (mountains)
• ambuda (clouds)
• añjana (collyrium/black pigment)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the overwhelming, fearsome diversity of forces gathered in war; by stressing monstrous and elemental imagery (clouds, mountains, stark black and white), it implicitly points to the ethical gravity of हिंसा (violence) and the need for discernment about dharma amid destruction.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana describes the appearance of various beings/warriors in the Shalya Parva context, portraying some as cloud- and mountain-like, mace-armed and formidable, others as intensely dark or brilliantly white—an evocative catalogue of terrifying forms present on the battlefield.