Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 146

Devanagari script

देवासुरगणाध्यक्षो देवासुरगणाग्रणी: । देवातिदेवो देवर्षिदेवासुरवरप्रद:

Transliteration

devāsuragaṇādhyakṣo devāsuragaṇāgraṇīḥ | devātidēvo devarṣir devāsuravarapradaḥ ||

Translation

वायु बोले—वह देवों और असुरों के गणों का अध्यक्ष है, उनका अग्रणी नेता है। वह देवों से भी बढ़कर देव है, दिव्य ऋषि है, और देवों तथा असुरों को भी वरदान देनेवाला है।

Word by Word

• {'deva': 'god, divine being', 'asura': 'asura

• often an anti-god or rival divine clan', 'gaṇa': 'group, host, troop', 'adhyakṣa': 'overseer, superintendent, presiding authority', 'agraṇī': 'leader, foremost guide', 'devātideva': 'God above the gods

• supreme deity', 'devarṣi': 'divine seer (a sage among the gods)', 'vara': 'boon, blessing', 'prada': 'giver, bestower'}

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• Devas
• Asuras
• Supreme deity (implied by epithets such as Devātideva)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that the highest divinity transcends partisan divisions (devas vs. asuras): supreme authority is shown through impartial lordship, spiritual wisdom (devarṣi), and the capacity to bestow grace (varaprada) even upon rivals.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu is praising a supreme divine figure through a chain of honorific epithets, emphasizing that this being leads and governs both divine factions and grants boons to all, thereby establishing the deity’s unmatched status.