Shloka 86
Śiva-stavarāja: Upamanyu’s Preface and Initiation of the Śarva-Nāma Enumeration
Anuśāsana-parva 17
महामूर्धा महामात्रो महानेत्रो निशालय: । महान्तको महाकर्णो महोष्ठश्न महाहनुः
mahāmūrdhā mahāmātro mahānetro niśālayaḥ | mahāntako mahākarṇo mahauṣṭhaś ca mahāhanuḥ ||
Vāyu-deva dit : «Il a la tête vaste et la stature large, de grands yeux—lui-même est la “demeure de la nuit”, le lieu où se dissout l’obscurité (l’ignorance). Il est la Mort même pour la Mort ; aux grandes oreilles, aux lèvres épaisses, à la mâchoire puissante.»
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a chain of epithets to convey a theological idea: the described being is not merely powerful in form, but cosmically supreme—one in whom darkness (ignorance) is dissolved and who stands beyond even death (“Death to Death”).
Vāyu-deva is speaking and describing a mighty, transcendent figure through physical and metaphysical attributes—great head, eyes, ears, jaw—culminating in titles that signal cosmic sovereignty (the dissolver of darkness and the terminator of death).