Shloka 15
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
अशुचौ मांसकलिले वसाशोणितकर्दमे । विकीर्णान्त्रास्थिनिचये शिवानादविनादिते
aśucau māṃsakalile vasāśoṇitakardame | vikīrṇāntrāsthinicaye śivānādavinādite ||
Maheshvara said: “Why do you dwell in such an impure place—churned with flesh, smeared with the mire of fat and blood, heaped with scattered intestines and bones, and resounding with the howling cries of jackals?”
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses stark imagery of impurity to question a deliberate choice of dwelling in a defiling environment, prompting reflection on purity, detachment, and the ethical meaning of residing amid death and decay—often as a test or emblem of renunciation in Śaiva/ascetic contexts.
Maheśvara addresses someone (contextually an ascetic or figure associated with cremation-ground practice) and challenges them: why remain in a place filled with flesh, fat, blood, scattered entrails and bones, and echoing with jackals’ howls—i.e., a cremation-ground-like, terrifyingly impure setting.