Shloka 102
सहस्रार्चि: सप्तजिद्द: सप्तैधा: सप्तवाहन: । अमूर्तिरनघो$चिन्त्यो भयकृद् भयनाशन:
sahasrārciḥ saptajihvaḥ saptaidhāḥ saptavāhanaḥ | amūrtir anagho 'cintyo bhayakṛd bhayanāśanaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: He is the thousand-rayed one; the seven-tongued; the seven-flamed; the seven-horsed. Formless, stainless, and beyond the reach of thought, he both instills fear in the wicked and destroys fear for those who remember him and for the righteous.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse praises the Supreme as simultaneously awe-inspiring and protective: he terrifies those who uphold adharma, yet grants fearlessness to the righteous and to those who remember him. Ethically, it frames divine power as aligned with moral order—punishing wrongdoing and sheltering virtue.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and recites a litany of divine names (a stotra-like sequence). This verse is one segment of that praise, using solar and fiery imagery (Sun/Agni epithets) to describe the deity’s radiance, transcendence, and role as both chastiser and protector.