Shloka 15
Kārttikeya-Abhiṣecana: Mātṛgaṇa-Nāma Saṃkīrtana and Skanda’s Commission
ऐरावत: सानुचर: कला: काष्ठास्तथैव च । मासार्धमासा ऋतवस्तथा रात्रयहनी नूप
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
airāvataḥ sānucaraḥ kalāḥ kāṣṭhās tathaiva ca |
māsārdhamāsā ṛtavas tathā rātryahanī nṛpa ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : «Ô roi, Airāvata vint en ce lieu avec ses suivants ; et de même les mesures divines du temps — Kalā et Kāṣṭhā — ainsi que les mois, les demi-mois, les saisons, et la nuit et le jour. Ainsi, jusqu’à l’ordre du temps et la régulation cosmique sont dépeints comme rassemblés en assistance, soulignant que l’événement décrit a une portée universelle, qui soutient le monde, et non une simple importance personnelle ou locale.»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
By depicting even the measures of time (kalā, kāṣṭhā), the cycles of months and seasons, and day and night as ‘arriving’ in attendance, the text signals that dharma and cosmic order are not abstract ideas but living structures that uphold the world. The scene implies that certain events—especially those involving divine leadership and the protection of order—draw the whole cosmos into witness and support.
The narrator continues a grand catalogue of beings and cosmic principles assembling at one place. In this verse, Airāvata (Indra’s elephant) arrives with attendants, and the personified divisions and cycles of time—kalā, kāṣṭhā, months, half-months, seasons, and day-night—are said to be present, emphasizing the magnitude and universality of the gathering.