Shloka 21

Devanagari script

बलाहकं मेघपुष्पं शैब्यं सुग्रीवमेव च

Transliteration

balāhakaṁ meghapuṣpaṁ śaibyaṁ sugrīvam eva ca

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “(He mentioned) Balāhaka, Meghapuṣpa, Śaibya, and also Sugrīva.”

Word by Word

बलाहकम्Balāhaka (a proper name)

मेघपुष्पम्Meghapuṣpa (a proper name; lit. 'cloud-flower')

शैब्यम्Śaibya (a proper name)

सुग्रीवम्Sugrīva (a proper name; lit. 'good-necked')

एवindeed/just

चand

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Balāhaka

Meghapuṣpa

Śaibya

Sugrīva

Vaiśampāyana

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This line functions as a cataloguing verse: it preserves and transmits remembered names within a larger discourse. The ethical value lies in śruti-smṛti style continuity—maintaining lineage, exemplars, and historical memory that support dharma through tradition.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana continues a list of named figures (or named beings such as horses/attendants, depending on the immediate context of the chapter), enumerating Balāhaka, Meghapuṣpa, Śaibya, and Sugrīva as part of a longer account in Śānti Parva.