Shloka 67

Śiva-stavarāja: Upamanyu’s Preface and Initiation of the Śarva-Nāma Enumeration

Anuśāsana-parva 17

Devanagari script

सर्वकामवरश्रैव सर्वद: सर्वतोमुख: । आकाशनिर्विरूपश्न निपाती हवश: खग:

Transliteration

sarvakāmavaraś caiva sarvadaḥ sarvatomukhaḥ | ākāśanirvirūpaś ca nipātī avaśaḥ khagaḥ ||

Translation

Vāyu-deva déclara : «Il est le suprême parmi tous les accomplissements désirables, le dispensateur de tout, et Celui dont les visages sont partout. Tel le ciel, il se manifeste en d’innombrables formes sans être enfermé dans une seule. Il précipite les pécheurs, n’est soumis à nul autre, et se meut librement dans les cieux.»

Word by Word

• सर्वकामवरः: best among all desirable objects / supreme boon (often taken as mokṣa)
• सर्वकामवरः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्वकामवर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• सर्वदः: giver of everything
• सर्वदः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्वद
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• सर्वतोमुखः: having faces in all directions / all-faced
• सर्वतोमुखः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्वतोमुख
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• आकाशनिर्विरूपः: manifesting diverse forms like the sky / sky-like in (varied) forms
• आकाशनिर्विरूपः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: आकाशनिर्विरूप
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• निपाती: one who causes to fall / cast down
• निपाती: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: निपातिन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अवशः: uncontrolled; not subject to anyone’s control
• अवशः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अवश
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• खगः: sky-goer; bird (epithet: one who moves in the sky)
• खगः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: खग
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu-deva
• the Supreme Lord (implied referent of the epithets)
• ākāśa (sky)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse presents a theological-ethical portrait of the Supreme: all-giving and all-pervading, yet independent and beyond limitation, while also functioning as moral governor—uplifting devotees through grace and casting down persistent sinners through the consequences of adharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva is speaking and enumerating honorific epithets describing the Supreme Lord’s nature—his universal presence (sarvatomukha), transcendence and manifold manifestation (ākāśanirvirūpa), sovereignty (avaśa), and punitive aspect toward wrongdoing (nipātī).