Shloka 18
Muñjavān on Himavat: Maheśvara’s abode, Śiva-stuti, and sacrificial gold
Chapter 8
मृगव्याधाय महते धन्विनेडथ भवाय च | वराय सोमवक्त्राय सिद्धमन्त्राय चक्षुषे
mṛgavyādhāya mahate dhanvine ’tha bhavāya ca | varāya somavaktrāya siddhamantrāya cakṣuṣe ||
महान् मृगव्याध को, पराक्रमी धनुर्धर को, तथा भव (शिव) को नमस्कार; उस श्रेष्ठ को, जिसका मुख सोम (चन्द्र) के समान है; सिद्ध मन्त्रों से युक्त को, और सर्वदर्शी नेत्रस्वरूप को प्रणाम।
संवर्त उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse models dharmic speech: before asserting power or giving consequential counsel, one invokes the higher moral and spiritual authority symbolized by Śiva—great, disciplined, and all-seeing—implying that effective action must be guided by reverence, restraint, and accountability.
Saṃvarta begins (or punctuates) his discourse with a devotional salutation, praising a divine figure through multiple epithets—Hunter, Archer, Bhava, moon-faced, possessor of perfected mantras, and the Eye—thereby framing the ensuing narrative or instruction within a sacred, legitimizing invocation.