Shloka 36
Rāma–Jāmadagnya-janma-kāraṇa and Kṣatra-kṣaya
Paraśurāma’s origins and the depletion/restoration of kṣatriya lineages
दत्तात्रेयप्रसादेन राजा बाहुसहस्रवान् | चक्रवर्ती महातेजा विप्राणामाश्चमेधिके
dattātreya-prasādena rājā bāhu-sahasravān | cakravartī mahā-tejā viprāṇām aśvamedhike ||
Vāsudeva said: “By the grace of Dattātreya, that king became possessed of a thousand arms. Radiant with great splendor, he was a universal sovereign; and in the rite of the Aśvamedha he bestowed gifts upon the Brahmins.”
वासुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links legitimate royal power to divine favor and to dharmic use of that power: sovereignty and extraordinary might are validated when they culminate in yajña and dāna—public, ritualized generosity toward Brahmins—rather than mere conquest for self-interest.
Vāsudeva recounts how a famed king, through Dattātreya’s grace, gained the extraordinary attribute of a thousand arms, became a cakravartin (universal ruler), and then performed the Aśvamedha, distributing gifts to Brahmins as part of the sacrificial rite.