Shloka 9
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
कुमारपितरं पिड़ं गोवृषोत्तमवाहनम् | तनुवाससमत्युग्रमुमा भूषणतत्परम्
sañjaya uvāca | kumārapitaraṁ piṅgaṁ govṛṣottamavāhanam | tanuvāsasam atyugram umābhūṣaṇatatparam ||
Sañjaya berkata: “(Aku berlindung pada) Bapa Kumāra (Kārttikeya), yang berwarna keemasan-tawny, dengan lembu jantan sebagai tunggangan mulia; yang mengenakan busana paling halus namun amat dahsyat dalam daya; dan yang senantiasa berhasrat menghias Umā.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as a devotional identification of Śiva through epithets—father of Kumāra, bull-mounted, ascetic yet overwhelmingly fierce, devoted to Umā—implying that ultimate power is aligned with cosmic order (dharma) and worthy of refuge. In the Sauptika setting, such praise implicitly contrasts divine sovereignty with human violence that has slipped beyond ethical restraint.
Sañjaya continues a hymn-like description of the deity (Śiva) by listing defining marks and relationships (Umā, Kumāra, the bull mount). This occurs within the Sauptika Parva’s grim aftermath of war, where invocations and divine framing accompany the narration of extreme acts and their moral consequences.