Shloka 94
तेजोवृषो द्युतिधर: सर्वशस्त्रभृतां वर: । प्रग्रहो निग्रहो व्यग्रो नैकशूज़ी गदाग्रज:
tejo-vṛṣo dyuti-dharaḥ sarva-śastra-bhṛtāṁ varaḥ | pragraho nigraho vyagro naika-śṛṅgī gadāgrajaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “He is the showerer of radiant splendor, the bearer of supreme brilliance, the best among all who wield weapons. He accepts the offerings of his devotees, restrains and governs all beings, and is ever intent on granting the desired fruits to those who seek him. He is the ‘many-horned’ one—symbolic of the manifold forms of sacred speech—and he is the elder to Gadā (i.e., the one born before her).”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse praises the Lord as both compassionate and sovereign: he receives sincere devotion (accepts offerings), yet also restrains and governs the world (nigraha). Ethical life is framed as trusting a divine order that rewards devotion and upholds discipline—grace and governance functioning together.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and extols the Supreme through a litany of divine names (as in the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma tradition). This verse is one segment of that praise, enumerating epithets that describe the deity’s splendor, martial supremacy, receptivity to devotion, and universal control.