Shloka 306
Adhyāya 6: Pañca-mahābhūta–guṇa-nirdeśa and Sudarśana-dvīpa
Five Elements, Sensory Qualities, and a Cosmographic Island
शतं वर्षसहस्राणां शिरसैव पिनाकधृक् । वह पवित्र कुण्ड स्वयं गंगाजीने ही प्रकट किया है, जो अपनी अगाध जलराशिके कारण समुद्रके समान शोभा पाता है। जिन्हें अपने ऊपर धारण करना पर्वतोंके लिये भी कठिन था, उन्हीं गंगाको पिनाकधारी भगवान् शिव एक लाख वर्षोतक अपने मस्तकपर ही धारण किये रहे
sañjaya uvāca | śataṁ varṣa-sahasrāṇāṁ śirasāiva pinākadhṛk | vahati pavitraṁ kuṇḍaṁ svayaṁ gaṅgā-jinaṁ hi prakaṭīkṛtam | yāṁ dhārayituṁ parvateṣv api duṣkarāṁ tāṁ gaṅgāṁ pinākadhārī bhagavān śivaḥ lakṣaṁ varṣāṇi mastake eva dhārayām āsa |
Sañjaya said: “The Lord who bears the bow Pināka—Śiva—carried upon his very head for a hundred thousand years the sacred basin, the holy manifestation of the Gaṅgā, which shines like the ocean by reason of its unfathomable mass of waters. That Gaṅgā, whose weight even mountains could scarcely sustain, was borne by the Pināka-bearing God upon his own head for a full hundred thousand years—an image of divine restraint and protective power that upholds what would otherwise overwhelm the world.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights divine restraint and protective strength: Śiva contains and bears the overwhelming force of the Gaṅgā for the welfare of the world, modeling the dharmic ideal of holding great power under control so it becomes purifying rather than destructive.
Sanjaya describes Śiva as Pināka-bearer who sustained the manifested Gaṅgā—likened to an oceanic, unfathomable flood—in a sacred basin and upon his head for a vast span of time, emphasizing that what even mountains could not bear was borne by Śiva.