Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 92
Kārttikeya-Abhiṣecana: Mātṛgaṇa-Nāma Saṃkīrtana and Skanda’s Commission
किन्हींके अनेक और सर्पाकार मुख थे। किन्हीं-किन्हींके बहुत-सी भुजाएँ और गर्दनें थीं। किन्हींकी बहुसंख्यक भुजाएँ नाना प्रकारके वृक्षोंके समान जान पड़ती थीं। किन्हीं- किन्हींके मस्तक उनके कटि-प्रदेशमें ही दिखायी देते थे ।।
bhujadbhogavadanā nānāgulmanivāsinaḥ | cīrasaṃvṛtagātrāś ca nānākānakavāsasaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Some had faces like serpents, and massive arms coiled about their bodies. Others seemed to dwell amid many kinds of shrubs and creepers, as though overgrown and concealed by vegetation. Some were covered only with ragged cloth, while others wore garments of varied golden splendor.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse heightens the ethical atmosphere of the war by depicting unsettling, quasi-monstrous forms—suggesting that adharma and mass violence distort the moral and even perceptual order of the world. It functions as a warning: when righteousness collapses, the environment of human life becomes uncanny and disordered.
Vaiśampāyana describes strange beings or apparitional figures with serpent-like faces, coiling arms, and bodies either overgrown with thickets and creepers or covered in rags or golden garments. The description contributes to the ominous, portent-filled setting surrounding the climactic events of the Shalya Parva.