Shloka 6

Rāma–Jāmadagnya-janma-kāraṇa and Kṣatra-kṣaya

Paraśurāma’s origins and the depletion/restoration of kṣatriya lineages

Devanagari script

पुत्रत्वमगमद्‌ राजंस्तस्य लोकेश्चरेश्वर: । गाधिनामाभवत् पुत्र: कौशिक: पाकशासन:

Transliteration

putratvam agamad rājaṁs tasya lokeś-careśvaraḥ | gādhināmābhavat putraḥ kauśikaḥ pākaśāsanaḥ ||

Translation

Vāyu said: “O King, the lord of the guardians of the worlds entered into sonship for him. Indra, the chastiser of Pāka, became the son of the Kuśika-lineage sage and was renowned by the name Gādhi.”

Word by Word

• {'putratvam': 'sonship

• the state/role of being a son', 'agamat': 'attained

• came to (entered into)', 'rājan': 'O king (vocative address)', 'tasya': 'of him

• for him', 'lokeśa': 'lord of the worlds

• ruler among world-protectors', 'cara-īśvaraḥ (careśvaraḥ)': 'lord of the moving beings / sovereign (epithet indicating supreme rulership)', 'gādhi-nāmā': 'named Gādhi

• bearing the name Gādhi', 'abhavat': 'became', 'putraḥ': 'son', 'kauśikaḥ': 'of the Kuśika lineage

• descendant of Kuśika', 'pākaśāsanaḥ': '‘chastiser of Pāka’

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• Indra (Pākaśāsana, Sahasranetra implied)
• Gādhi
• Kuśika (lineage reference)
• Lokapālas (guardians of the worlds, implied collective)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the Mahābhārata theme that intense tapas and merit can draw even cosmic powers into one’s lineage: divine authority submits to the moral-spiritual force of ascetic discipline, resulting in an extraordinary birth that serves dharmic purposes.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu explains to the king that Indra—lord among the world-guardians, famed as Pākaśāsana—took birth as the son in the Kuśika line and became known as Gādhi, indicating a divine incarnation into a human genealogy.