Shloka 26

Mārkaṇḍeya’s Consolation to the King: Exempla of Rāma and the Efficacy of Allies (मार्कण्डेयाश्वासनम्)

Devanagari script

ब्रह्मोवाच य एते कीर्तिता: सर्वे न तेभ्यो5स्ति भयं तव । ऋते मनुष्याद्‌ भद्गं ते तथा तद्‌ विहितं मया,ब्रह्माजीने कहा--तुमने जिन लोगोंका नाम लिया है, इनमेंसे किसीसे भी तुम्हें भय नहीं होगा। केवल मनुष्यको छोड़कर तुम सबसे निर्भय रहो। तुम्हारा भला हो। तुम्हारे लिये मनुष्यसे होनेवाले भयका विधान मैंने ही किया है

Transliteration

brahmovāca—ya ete kīrtitāḥ sarve na tebhyo 'sti bhayaṁ tava | ṛte manuṣyād bhadraṁ te tathā tad vihitaṁ mayā ||

Translation

Brahmā said: “Of all those you have named, none will be a cause of fear to you. Except for a human being, you shall remain fearless before all. May good be yours—this limitation, that your danger would arise from a man, has been ordained by me.”

Word by Word

• {'brahmovāca': 'Brahmā said', 'ya ete': 'these who', 'kīrtitāḥ': 'mentioned, named, praised', 'sarve': 'all', 'na ... asti': 'there is not', 'tebhyaḥ': 'from them, because of them', 'bhayam': 'fear, danger', 'tava': 'for you, your', 'ṛte': 'except, excluding', 'manuṣyāt': 'from a human being', 'bhadram te': 'good be to you

• blessings upon you', 'tathā': 'thus, in that manner', 'tat': 'that (stipulation/boon-condition)', 'vihitam': 'ordained, laid down, prescribed', 'mayā': 'by me'}

Speaker

रावण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Brahmā
• Rāvaṇa
• manuṣya (human being)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even extraordinary power granted by divine favor is bounded by a deliberate limitation; ethical caution is implied—pride in invulnerability blinds one to the single, ordained point of vulnerability.

What is happening in the narrative?

Brahmā responds to Rāvaṇa’s request for fearlessness from various beings, granting safety from all those named but explicitly excluding humans, stating that this exception is Brahmā’s own ordinance.