Shloka 13
नमो<स्त्वृषिभ्य: परमं परेषां देवेषु देवं वरदं वराणाम् सहस्रशीर्षाय नम: शिवाय सहस्ननामाय जनार्दनाय
bhīṣma uvāca |
namo 'stv ṛṣibhyaḥ paramaṃ pareṣāṃ deveṣu devaṃ varadaṃ varāṇām |
sahasraśīrṣāya namaḥ śivāya sahasranāmāya janārdanāya ||
vṛṣākapiś ca śambhuś ca havano 'theśvaras tathā |
ekādaśaite prathitā rudrās tribhuvaneśvarāḥ ||
ajai kapād ahirbudhnyaḥ pinākī aparājitaḥ |
ṛtaḥ pitṛrūpas tryambako maheśvaro vṛṣākapiḥ śambhur havana īśvaraḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “Salutations to the seers, the supreme among the exalted. I bow to the God of gods, the bestower of boons, the foremost among the excellent—to Śiva of a thousand heads, to the thousand-named Lord who is also called Janārdana. Vṛṣākapi, Śambhu, Havana, and likewise Īśvara—these are famed as the eleven Rudras, sovereigns of the three worlds.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches reverential devotion through divine praise: recognizing the supreme lordship and many epithets/forms of Rudra-Śiva (the eleven Rudras), and honoring the seers as transmitters of sacred knowledge.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and religious duties; here he offers a hymn-like salutation, naming and affirming the famed eleven Rudras as rulers of the three worlds.