Shloka 12
Kurukṣetra-sainyadarśana and Arjuna-viṣāda (धर्मक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः — अर्जुनविषाद)
स्वाहाकार: स्वधा चैव कला काष्ठा सरस्वती । सावित्रि वेदमाता च तथा वेदान्त उच्यते,सावित्रि! स्वाहा, स्वथा, कला, काष्ठा, सरस्वती, वेदमाता तथा वेदान्त--ये सब तुम्हारे ही नाम हैं
arjuna uvāca | svāhākāraḥ svadhā caiva kalā kāṣṭhā sarasvatī | sāvitrī vedamātā ca tathā vedānta ucyate ||
Arjuna dijo: «A ti se te invoca como Svāhā y Svadhā; tú eres las divisiones del Tiempo—kalā y kāṣṭhā; tú eres Sarasvatī; tú eres Sāvitrī, la Madre de los Vedas; y también se te llama Vedānta. Todos estos nombres y funciones venerables te pertenecen».
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a devotional identification of the addressed divinity with multiple sacred functions—ritual invocation (svāhā), ancestral offering (svadhā), measures of time (kalā, kāṣṭhā), sacred speech and learning (Sarasvatī), the Gāyatrī/Sāvitrī as ‘Mother of the Vedas,’ and the culminating wisdom of the Veda (Vedānta). Ethically, it frames reverence as recognizing the divine presence across ritual, knowledge, and the ordering of time.
In Bhīṣma Parva, amid the larger Kurukṣetra setting, Arjuna speaks in praise, listing honorific names and roles of the deity being addressed, affirming that diverse Vedic and philosophical designations ultimately refer to the same supreme sacred reality.