Shloka 22
Vaiśravaṇa-sabhā-varṇanam
Description of Kubera’s Assembly Hall
उमापति: पशुपति: शूलभृद् भगनेत्रहा । त्रयम्बको राजशार्दूल देवी च विगतक्लमा
umāpatiḥ paśupatiḥ śūlabhṛd bhaganetrāhā | tryambako rājaśārdūla devī ca vigataklamā ||
Nārada said: O tiger among kings, there arrived Umāpati—Paśupati—bearing the trident, the slayer of Bhaga’s eye, the three-eyed Lord Tryambaka, and with him the goddess, Pārvatī, free from fatigue. Surrounded by countless hosts of fierce spirits and goblins—dwarfish, grotesque, hunchbacked, red-eyed, clamorous, flesh- and fat-eating, and armed with many kinds of weapons, swift as the wind—Mahābali Paśupati entered that assembly and sat beside his friend Kubera, the ever-bestowing lord of wealth.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights that supreme power (Śiva with his fearsome attendants) is not merely terrifying but also ordered and beneficent when aligned with dharmic space—here, the assembly where divine presence confers protection, legitimacy, and prosperity (through association with Kubera).
Nārada describes Śiva and Pārvatī entering the assembly, accompanied by vast hosts of bhūtas and pretas, and taking their seat near Kubera, Śiva’s friend and the giver of wealth—depicting the gathering of major divine figures in the sabhā.