Shloka 91
Śiva-stavarāja: Upamanyu’s Preface and Initiation of the Śarva-Nāma Enumeration
Anuśāsana-parva 17
गण्डली मेरुधामा च देवाधिपतिरेव च । अथर्वशीर्ष: सामास्य ऋक््सहस्रामितेक्षण:,५०२ गण्डली--पहाड़ोंकी गुफाओंमें छिपकर रहनेवाले, ५०३ मेरुधामा--मेरु- पर्वतको अपना निवासस्थान बनानेवाले, ५०४ देवाधिपति:--देवताओंके स्वामी, ५०५ अथर्वशीर्ष:--अथर्ववेद जिनका मस्तक है वे, ५०६ सामास्य:--सामवेद जिनका मुख है वे, ५०७ ऋक्सहस्रामितेक्षण:--सहस्रों ऋचाएँ जिनके नेत्र हैं
gaṇḍalī merudhāmā ca devādhipatir eva ca | atharvaśīrṣaḥ sāmāsya ṛk-sahasrāmitekṣaṇaḥ ||
Vāyu said: “He is Gaṇḍalī, the one who dwells in mountain-caves; Merudhāmā, whose abode is Mount Meru; indeed the Lord of the gods. The Atharvaveda is his head, the Sāmaveda his mouth, and the thousands of Ṛgvedic hymns are his immeasurable eyes.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a devotional and theological vision in which the supreme deity is identified with the Vedas themselves—head, mouth, and eyes—implying that sacred knowledge and divine sovereignty are inseparable, and that reverence for the Vedas is a form of reverence for the divine.
Vāyu is describing and praising a supreme divine figure through a chain of epithets (cave-dweller, resident of Meru, lord of the gods) and then through a cosmic-Vedic imagery where the deity’s body is mapped onto the three Vedas and the multitude of Ṛgvedic hymns.