Shloka 16
Brahmacarya-Upāya: Jñāna, Śauca, and the Mind’s Role in Desire (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय २०७)
तस्य तात वधात् सर्वे देवदानवमानवा: । मधुसूदनमित्याहुरऋषभं सर्वसात्वताम्,तात! उस मधुका वध करनेके कारण ही सम्पूर्ण देवता, दानव और मानव--इन सर्वसात्वतशिरोमणि श्रीकृष्णको मधुसूदन कहते हैं
tasya tāta vadhāt sarve devadānavamānavāḥ | madhusūdanam ity āhur ṛṣabhaṃ sarvasāttvatām ||
Bhishma sprach: „Mein Kind, weil er Madhu erschlug, rufen ihn alle—Götter, Asuras und Menschen—Krishna, den Stier unter den Sāttvatas (den Vornehmsten der Vṛṣṇis), ‘Madhusūdana’, den Töter Madhus.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A noble act that removes a harmful power becomes a lasting ethical identity: Krishna is remembered as ‘Madhusūdana’ because his deed protected the world, and this recognition is so evident that even diverse groups—devas, dānavas, and humans—affirm it.
Bhishma explains the origin of Krishna’s epithet ‘Madhusūdana’: it arose from Krishna’s slaying of the being named Madhu, after which all classes of beings came to call him by that title, honoring him as the foremost among the Sāttvatas.