Shloka 21

Go-mahātmyam: Pavitrāṇāṃ Pavitraṃ

Cows and Ghee as Supreme Purifiers

Devanagari script

तत्तेजस्तु ततो रौद्रं कपिलास्ता विशाम्पते

Transliteration

tattejastu tato raudraṃ kapilāstā viśāmpate

Translation

Bhīṣma said: “Then that radiance turned fierce; and those beings became tawny, O lord of the people.”

Word by Word

• तत्: that
• तत्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• तेजः: splendor, energy
• तेजः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: तेजस्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• तु: but, however
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• ततः: from that, thence
• ततः: Apadana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः

• रौद्रम्: fierce, wrathful
• रौद्रम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: रौद्र
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• कपिलाः: tawny, brownish
• कपिलाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कपिल
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• ताः: those (f.)
• ताः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• विशाम्: of the people, of the clans
• Type: Noun
• Root: विश्
• Form: Feminine, Genitive, Plural

• पते: O lord
• Type: Noun
• Root: पति
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• viśāmpati (the king addressed, i.e., Yudhiṣṭhira)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how accumulated spiritual or cosmic energy (tejas) can shift into a fierce, Rudra-like force (raudra) when conditions change—implying that power must be governed by restraint and dharma, especially in a king’s ethical horizon.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma continues a descriptive account in which a previously mentioned radiance intensifies into a terrible form, and the referenced beings/objects take on a tawny (kapila) coloration, while addressing the king (Yudhiṣṭhira) as ‘viśāmpati’.