Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 85
Kārttikeya-Abhiṣecana: Mātṛgaṇa-Nāma Saṃkīrtana and Skanda’s Commission
पारावतमुखाश्चान्ये तथा वृषमुखा: परे । कोकिलाभाननाश्षान्ये श्येनतित्तिरिकानना:,कुछ पार्षदोंके मुख कबूतर, बैल, कोयल, बाज और तीतरोंके समान थे
pārāvatamukhāścānye tathā vṛṣamukhāḥ pare | kokilābhānanāś cānye śyenatittirikānanāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Among those attendants, some had faces like pigeons; others like bulls. Some had faces resembling cuckoos, and others had faces like hawks and partridges”—a portrayal of a wondrous, otherworldly retinue marked by mixed, animal-like forms.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse primarily serves a descriptive purpose: it highlights the uncanny, non-human features of a retinue, suggesting the presence of forces beyond ordinary human society. Ethically, such imagery in the epic often frames war and its surrounding events as occurring under vast cosmic and unseen influences, urging humility about human control.
Vaiśampāyana is describing a group of attendants (pārṣadas) whose faces resemble various animals and birds—pigeons, bulls, cuckoos, hawks, and partridges—emphasizing a strange, supernatural atmosphere around the events being narrated in the Shalya Parva.