Shloka 17
Ādi-parva Adhyāya 3 — Janamejaya’s Rite, Dhaumya’s Parīkṣā, and Uttanka’s Kuṇḍala Quest (सर्पसत्रप्रस्तावना–गुरुपरीक्षा–उत्तङ्कोपाख्यान)
समर्थो5यं भवत: सर्वा: पापकृत्या: शमयितु-मन्तरेण महादेवकृत्याम्,यह तुम्हारी सम्पूर्ण पापकृत्याओं (शापजनित उपद्रवों)-का निवारण करनेमें समर्थ है। केवल भगवान् शंकरकी कृत्याको यह नहीं टाल सकता
samartho ’yaṁ bhavataḥ sarvāḥ pāpakṛtyāḥ śamayitum, antareṇa mahādevakṛtyām; yā tuṣmākam samastapāpakṛtyānāṁ (śāpajanitopadravāṇām) nivāraṇe samarthā, kevalaṁ bhagavataḥ śaṅkarasya kṛtyāṁ na śaknoti nivārayitum.
The king said: “This one is capable of pacifying all the harmful acts born of sin that afflict you—those troubles arising from curses—except for the destructive rite set in motion by Mahādeva. It can ward off every other calamity of that kind, but it cannot avert what has been wrought by Lord Śaṅkara.”
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores a hierarchy of powers and accountability: many harms (even those arising from curses) may be pacified by suitable means, but what is directly sanctioned by Śiva (Mahādeva/Śaṅkara) is presented as beyond ordinary counteraction—implying reverence for divine ordinance and the limits of human or secondary remedies.
Rāma addresses someone afflicted by curse-born disturbances, assuring them that a certain agent or remedy can neutralize all such harmful rites, with one exception: the specific destructive kṛtyā attributed to Mahādeva, which cannot be averted by that means.