Shloka 13
Ghuśmā–Sudehā: Jealousy, Household Honor, and the Ethics of Śaiva Merit (गुश्मा–सुदेहा प्रसङ्गः)
अतोऽहं मारयाम्यद्य तत्पुत्रं प्रियवादिनम् । अग्रे भावि भवेदेवं निश्चयः परमो मम
ato'haṃ mārayāmyadya tatputraṃ priyavādinam | agre bhāvi bhavedevaṃ niścayaḥ paramo mama
“Therefore, today I shall kill that son—one who speaks pleasingly. In the time to come, it shall indeed be so; this is my supreme resolve.”
Unspecified in the isolated verse (speaker must be identified from the surrounding narrative context of Koṭirudrasaṃhitā 4.33).
Tattva Level: pasha
Jyotirlinga: Ghṛṣṇeśvara
Sthala Purana: This is the decisive turn in the Ghṛṣṇeśvara legend: Sudehā’s resolve to kill Ghūṣmā’s son becomes the adharma that precipitates Śiva’s later intervention and the liṅga’s fame as a giver of justice and grace.
Significance: Pilgrims contemplate the danger of pāśa (bondage) as jealousy and violence, and seek Śiva’s anugraha to cut such bonds.
FAQs
In Purāṇic narration, epithets such as priyavādin function as moral and affective markers: they underscore the poignancy of the act and intensify the ethical tension between outward virtue (gentle speech, agreeable conduct) and the speaker’s hardened resolve. The contrast can serve a devotional-philosophical purpose by illustrating how powerful intentions (niścaya) and passions can eclipse ordinary markers of goodness, thereby inviting reflection on discernment, self-mastery, and the karmic weight of deliberate action.