Shloka 16

Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)

Devanagari script

श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच मेध्यान्वेषी महीं कृत्स्नां विचराम्यनिशं सदा । न च मेध्यतरं किंचित्‌ श्मशानादिह लक्ष्यते

Transliteration

śrīmaheśvara uvāca medhyānveṣī mahīṃ kṛtsnāṃ vicarāmy aniśaṃ sadā | na ca medhyataraṃ kiṃcit śmaśānād iha lakṣyate ||

Translation

Śrī Maheśvara said: “Seeking what is truly purifying, I wander ceaselessly—day and night—over the whole earth. Yet here I perceive nothing more purifying than the cremation-ground.”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'śrīmaheśvara', 'definition': 'Śrī Maheśvara

• the Great Lord (Śiva)'}, {'term': 'uvāca', 'definition': 'said, spoke'}, {'term': 'medhya', 'definition': 'pure, fit for sacred rites

• purifying'}, {'term': 'anveṣī', 'definition': 'seeking, searching after'}, {'term': 'mahīm', 'definition': 'the earth'}, {'term': 'kṛtsnām', 'definition': 'entire, whole'}, {'term': 'vicarāmi', 'definition': 'I wander, I roam'}, {'term': 'aniśam', 'definition': 'unceasingly, continually'}, {'term': 'sadā', 'definition': 'always'}, {'term': 'na ca', 'definition': 'and not

• nor'}, {'term': 'medhyataram', 'definition': 'more purifying (comparative)'}, {'term': 'kiṃcit', 'definition': 'anything at all'}, {'term': 'śmaśānāt', 'definition': 'than the cremation-ground (ablative)'}, {'term': 'iha', 'definition': 'here, in this world/context'}, {'term': 'lakṣyate', 'definition': 'is perceived, is seen, appears'}]

Speaker

श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śrī Maheśvara (Śiva)
• mahī (earth)
• śmaśāna (cremation-ground)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True purification is not merely ritual or location-based; the cremation-ground, confronting impermanence and ego-dissolution, becomes supremely purifying because it strips away attachment and pride, directing the mind toward detachment and truth.

What is happening in the narrative?

Śrī Maheśvara speaks, describing his continual roaming over the whole earth in search of the most purifying place, and declares that nothing surpasses the śmaśāna in purifying power.