Shloka 107
Śoka-śamana: Kṛṣṇa’s Consolation and Nārada’s Exempla to Sṛñjaya
Chapter 29
शतं कन्या राजपुत्रमेकैकं॑ पृथगन्वयु: । कन्यां कनन््यां शतं नागा नागं॑ नागं शतं रथा:,“वे सभी राजकुमार सुवर्णमय कवच धारण करनेवाले और उत्तम धनुर्धर थे। एक-एक राजकुमारको अलग-अलग सौ-सौ कन्याएँ ब्याही गयी थीं। प्रत्येक कन्याके साथ सौ-सौ हाथी प्राप्त हुए थे। हर एक हाथीके पीछे सौ-सौ रथ मिले थे
śataṁ kanyā rājaputram ekaikaṁ pṛthag anvayuḥ | kanyāṁ kanyāṁ śataṁ nāgā nāgaṁ nāgaṁ śataṁ rathāḥ |
Vāyu said: “A hundred maidens were given, each to a different prince. With each maiden came a hundred elephants; and with each elephant, a hundred chariots.” The verse underscores the scale of royal wealth and the social practice of measuring status through lavish marital gifts, hinting at how prosperity and power can multiply into vast material display.
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how royal society expresses prestige through immense material endowments—marriage alliances accompanied by escalating gifts (brides, elephants, chariots). In the ethical frame of Śānti Parva, such descriptions can serve as a contrast to inner restraint and the limits of worldly display.
Vāyu narrates a scene of extraordinary royal arrangements: each prince receives a separate group of a hundred brides, each bride is accompanied by a hundred elephants, and each elephant is followed by a hundred chariots—depicting an immense procession of wealth and military resources.