Shloka 28
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
कोई अपने मस्तकपर कमलों और कुमुदोंका किरीट धारण करते थे। बहुतोंने विशुद्ध मुकुट धारण कर रखा था। वे भूतगण सैकड़ों और हजारोंकी संख्यामें थे और सभी अद्भुत माहात्म्यसे सम्पन्न थे ।।
śataghnī-vajra-hastāś ca tathā musala-pāṇayaḥ | bhuśuṇḍī-pāśa-hastāś ca daṇḍa-hastāś ca bhārata ||
Sañjaya said: “O Bhārata, some wore crowns of lotuses and kumudas upon their heads, and many bore pure, shining diadems. Those beings were in the hundreds and the thousands, all endowed with wondrous might. In their hands gleamed fearsome weapons—śataghnīs, thunderbolts, clubs, bhuśuṇḍīs, nooses, and staffs—each fit for destruction.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how, in the atmosphere of adharma-driven violence, destructive power proliferates and overwhelms discernment. The piling up of weapons symbolizes the escalation of cruelty and the ethical peril of letting wrath and vengeance govern action.
Sañjaya describes the terrifying armed host (often understood as fierce beings/attendants in the night scene of the Sauptika episode) appearing in great numbers, each carrying formidable weapons, intensifying the dread and chaos surrounding the nocturnal slaughter.