Shloka 12
क्रतुभिस्तपसा चैव स्वाध्यायेन दमेन च । त्रैलोक्यैश्वर्यमव्यग्र॑ प्राप्तोडहं विक्रमेण च,मैंने अनेक यज्ञ किये, तपस्या की, स्वाध्याय किया तथा अपने मन और इन्द्रियोंके संयमरूप योगका अभ्यास किया। इन सत्कर्मोंसे तथा अपने पराक्रमसे भी मुझे तीनों लोकोंका निष्कण्टक साम्राज्य प्राप्त हुआ था
kratubhis tapasā caiva svādhyāyena damena ca | trailokyaiśvaryam avyagraṁ prāpto 'haṁ vikrameṇa ca ||
The Serpent said: “By sacrifices, by austerity, by study of sacred lore, and by self-restraint, I attained—without distraction or impediment—the sovereign lordship of the three worlds; and I gained it also through my own valor.”
सर्प उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links legitimate power to disciplined means—ritual duty (kratu), austerity (tapas), scriptural study (svādhyāya), and self-restraint (dama)—while also acknowledging personal effort (vikrama). Ethically, it highlights that sovereignty is portrayed as the fruit of sustained inner and outer discipline, though it can also become a ground for self-assertion.
A serpent character speaks in the first person, recounting past achievements: through religious acts and yogic restraint, and through valor, he claims to have obtained unchallenged dominion over the three worlds. The statement functions as self-description and sets up the moral tension between earned power and the attitude with which it is held.