Shloka 96

Adhyāya 90: Babhruvāhana’s Reception and the Commencement of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Aśvamedha

Devanagari script

सहस्रशक्तिश्न शतं शतशक्तिर्दशापि च

Transliteration

sahasraśaktiśna śataṃ śataśaktir daśāpi ca

Translation

“A thousand-powered; a hundred; a hundred-powered; and even ten as well.”

Word by Word

• सहस्रशक्तिः: one having a thousand powers/energies
• सहस्रशक्तिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सहस्रशक्ति
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• शतम्: a hundred
• शतम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शत
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• शतशक्तिः: one having a hundred powers/energies
• शतशक्तिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: शतशक्ति
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• दश: ten
• दश: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: दश
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• अपि: also/even
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अपि

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

Speaker

श्षशुर उवाच

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds how people quantify and compare power (thousandfold, hundredfold, tenfold), a motif the Mahābhārata often uses to contrast external might with the deeper claims of dharma—implying that ethical rightness is not reducible to numerical strength.

What is happening in the narrative?

A speaker is listing graded measures of power/strength as part of an argument or description, using numerical scaling to emphasize relative capability and to set up a comparison within the surrounding passage.