Shloka 86

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

नमोस्तु कृशनासाय कृशाज्ञाय कृशाय च | संदह्ृष्टाय विहृष्ाय नम: किलकिलाय च

Transliteration

namo'stu kṛśanāsāya kṛśājñāya kṛśāya ca | sandahṛṣṭāya vihṛṣṭāya namaḥ kilakilāya ca ||

Translation

पतली नासिका वाले—कृशनास—आपको नमस्कार है। कृश अंगों वाले—कृशाङ्ग—और दुबले शरीर वाले—कृश—आपको नमस्कार है। अत्यन्त हर्ष से दहक उठने वाले, विशेष उल्लास से परिपूर्ण, और हर्ष की ‘किल-किल’ ध्वनि-स्वरूप—आपको नमस्कार है॥

Word by Word

• {"namo'stu (namaḥ + astu)": '“let there be salutations”

• a formula of reverential worship', 'kṛśa': 'slender, thin, delicate

• also ‘lean’ in bodily sense', 'nāsā': 'nose', 'kṛśanāsa': 'one with a slender nose (epithet)', 'aṅga (implied in kṛśāṅga)': 'limb, body-part', 'kṛśāṅga (sense reflected in the Hindi gloss)': 'one whose limbs are slender/delicate', 'kṛśājña': 'one of slender/keen discernment

• contextually laudatory)', 'sandahṛṣṭa': 'intensely thrilled

• brimming with rapture', 'vihṛṣṭa': 'exceedingly delighted

• rejoicing', 'kilakilā': 'a tinkling/pealing sound

• the playful cry or laughter-like sound of joy', 'ca': 'and'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse models dharmic devotion through praise: reverent speech that contemplates auspicious qualities (even bodily epithets) as expressions of inner bliss. It suggests that honoring the divine with focused stuti cultivates steadiness, purity of mind, and a joyful orientation toward dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma—teaching from his bed of arrows—utters a laudatory address (stuti), offering repeated salutations using descriptive epithets and joy-filled attributes, culminating in the image of ‘kilakilā,’ the very sound of jubilant laughter.