Shloka 10

Varuṇābhiṣeka–Agni-anveṣaṇa–Kaubera-tīrtha

Varuṇa’s Consecration; Search for Agni; Kaubera Sacred Site

Devanagari script

सुदामा बहुदामा च सुप्रभा च यशस्विनी । नृत्यप्रिया च राजेन्द्र शतोलूखलमेखला

Transliteration

sudāmā bahudāmā ca suprabhā ca yaśasvinī | nṛtyapriyā ca rājendra śatolūkhalamekhalā

Translation

Vaiśaṃpāyana sprach: „O König, es gab Frauen namens Sudāmā, Bahudāmā, Suprabhā und die ruhmreiche Yaśasvinī; und auch Nṛtyapriyā—alle trugen Gürtel, geschmückt mit hundert kleinen Glöckchen.“

Word by Word

सुदामाSudāmā (a woman’s name; ‘having good garlands/ornamentation’)

बहुदामाBahudāmā (a woman’s name; ‘having many garlands/ornaments’)

चand

सुप्रभाSuprabhā (a woman’s name; ‘very radiant’)

चand

यशस्विनीfamous, illustrious (fem.)

नृत्यप्रियाfond of dancing

चand

राजेन्द्रO king of kings (O best of kings)

शतोलूखलमेखलाshe whose girdle is (made of/like) a hundred mortars (a woman’s epithet/name)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Sudāmā

Bahudāmā

Suprabhā

Yaśasvinī

Nṛtyapriyā

mekhalā (girdle)

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 is primarily descriptive rather than didactic: it preserves memory through precise naming and depiction, showing how the epic records individuals and cultural details even amid the larger moral and martial narrative.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana addresses the king and lists several named women, adding a vivid detail about ornamented girdles with many small pendants/bells, as part of a broader catalogue within the Shalya Parva narration.