Shloka 107
Śoka-śamana: Kṛṣṇa’s Consolation and Nārada’s Exempla to Sṛñjaya
Chapter 29
शतं कन्या राजपुत्रमेकैकं॑ पृथगन्वयु: । कन्यां कनन््यां शतं नागा नागं॑ नागं शतं रथा:,“वे सभी राजकुमार सुवर्णमय कवच धारण करनेवाले और उत्तम धनुर्धर थे। एक-एक राजकुमारको अलग-अलग सौ-सौ कन्याएँ ब्याही गयी थीं। प्रत्येक कन्याके साथ सौ-सौ हाथी प्राप्त हुए थे। हर एक हाथीके पीछे सौ-सौ रथ मिले थे
śataṁ kanyā rājaputram ekaikaṁ pṛthag anvayuḥ | kanyāṁ kanyāṁ śataṁ nāgā nāgaṁ nāgaṁ śataṁ rathāḥ |
Dijo Vāyu: “Se entregaron cien doncellas, cada una a un príncipe distinto. Con cada doncella venían cien elefantes; y con cada elefante, cien carros.” El verso subraya la magnitud de la riqueza real y la práctica social de medir el rango mediante fastuosos dones nupciales, insinuando cómo la prosperidad y el poder pueden multiplicarse en una vasta exhibición material.
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how royal society expresses prestige through immense material endowments—marriage alliances accompanied by escalating gifts (brides, elephants, chariots). In the ethical frame of Śānti Parva, such descriptions can serve as a contrast to inner restraint and the limits of worldly display.
Vāyu narrates a scene of extraordinary royal arrangements: each prince receives a separate group of a hundred brides, each bride is accompanied by a hundred elephants, and each elephant is followed by a hundred chariots—depicting an immense procession of wealth and military resources.