Shloka 10

Varuṇābhiṣeka–Agni-anveṣaṇa–Kaubera-tīrtha

Varuṇa’s Consecration; Search for Agni; Kaubera Sacred Site

Devanagari script

सुदामा बहुदामा च सुप्रभा च यशस्विनी । नृत्यप्रिया च राजेन्द्र शतोलूखलमेखला

Transliteration

sudāmā bahudāmā ca suprabhā ca yaśasvinī | nṛtyapriyā ca rājendra śatolūkhalamekhalā

Translation

Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “O king, there were women named Sudāmā, Bahudāmā, Suprabhā, and the renowned Yaśasvinī; and also Nṛtyapriyā—all wearing girdles adorned with a hundred little bells.”

Word by Word

• सुदामा: Sudāmā (a woman’s name; ‘having good garlands/ornamentation’)
• सुदामा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सुदामा
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• बहुदामा: Bahudāmā (a woman’s name; ‘having many garlands/ornaments’)
• बहुदामा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: बहुदामा
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• सुप्रभा: Suprabhā (a woman’s name; ‘very radiant’)
• सुप्रभा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सुप्रभा
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• यशस्विनी: famous, illustrious (fem.)
• यशस्विनी: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: यशस्विन्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• नृत्यप्रिया: fond of dancing
• नृत्यप्रिया: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नृत्यप्रिय
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• राजेन्द्र: O king of kings (O best of kings)
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजेन्द्र
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• शतोलूखलमेखला: she whose girdle is (made of/like) a hundred mortars (a woman’s epithet/name)
• शतोलूखलमेखला: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: शत-उलूखल-मेखला
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Sudāmā
• Bahudāmā
• Suprabhā
• Yaśasvinī
• Nṛtyapriyā
• mekhalā (girdle)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse is primarily descriptive rather than didactic: it preserves memory through precise naming and depiction, showing how the epic records individuals and cultural details even amid the larger moral and martial narrative.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana addresses the king and lists several named women, adding a vivid detail about ornamented girdles with many small pendants/bells, as part of a broader catalogue within the Shalya Parva narration.