Shloka 106

Śoka-śamana: Kṛṣṇa’s Consolation and Nārada’s Exempla to Sṛñjaya

Chapter 29

Devanagari script

हिरण्यकवचा: सर्वे सर्वे चोत्तमधन्विन:

Transliteration

hiraṇyakavacāḥ sarve sarve cottamadhanvinaḥ |

Translation

Vāyu dit : « Tous portaient des cuirasses d’or, et chacun d’eux était un archer d’élite. » Le vers met en relief la prospérité royale et la préparation guerrière—signes extérieurs de puissance—qui, dans l’horizon moral du Śānti Parva, appellent à se souvenir que richesse et prouesse militaire doivent être gouvernées par le dharma, non par l’orgueil ni l’excès.

Word by Word

• हिरण्यकवचाः: having golden armor
• हिरण्यकवचाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: हिरण्यकवच
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• सर्वे: all
• सर्वे: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• सर्वे: all
• सर्वे: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

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

• उत्तमधन्विनः: excellent bowmen
• उत्तमधन्विनः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: उत्तमधन्विन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Wind-god)
• golden armor (kavaca)
• bows/archery (dhanus implied by dhanvin)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse presents splendor and military excellence as outward markers of royal power; in the Śānti Parva’s ethical atmosphere, such power is implicitly to be restrained and directed by dharma, not treated as an end in itself.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu describes a group of princes/warriors as uniformly equipped with golden armor and renowned for superior archery, emphasizing their formidable status and resources.