Shloka 6
Draupadī-apaharaṇa-saṃdeśaḥ
Report of Draupadī’s Abduction and the Pāṇḍavas’ Pursuit
पुरा त्वं तपसास्माभिललब्धो राजन महेश्वरात् । पूर्वकायश्च पूर्वस्ते निर्मितो वज्ञसंचयै:
purā tvaṃ tapasāsmābhir labdho rājan maheśvarāt | pūrvakāyaś ca pūrvas te nirmito vajrasañcayaiḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : « Jadis, ô roi, par nos austérités nous t’obtînmes comme un don de Maheśvara (Śiva). Et la partie antérieure de ton corps — la portion supérieure, formée la première — fut façonnée d’amas d’une substance pareille au vajra. »
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Austerity and devotion directed toward a deity (here, Śiva as Maheśvara) are portrayed as powerful means to obtain extraordinary results; the verse also underscores the idea that a ruler’s exceptional nature can be grounded in divine origin and purposeful, ‘adamantine’ construction.
Vaiśampāyana recalls an earlier event: through their tapas the speakers received the king as a boon from Śiva, and he describes the king’s bodily formation—especially the fore/upper portion—as being made from a mass of vajra-like material, emphasizing his extraordinary, superhuman constitution.