Shloka 96

Adhyāya 90: Babhruvāhana’s Reception and the Commencement of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Aśvamedha

Devanagari script

सहस्रशक्तिश्न शतं शतशक्तिर्दशापि च

Transliteration

sahasraśaktiśna śataṃ śataśaktir daśāpi ca

Translation

The speaker enumerates measures of strength and power in escalating units—‘a thousand-powered,’ ‘a hundred,’ ‘a hundred-powered,’ and even ‘ten as well’—as part of a larger statement that weighs comparative force and capability. In the ethical frame of the Mahābhārata, such counting underscores how worldly power is assessed and contrasted, often to remind the listener that mere numerical strength is not the sole determinant of right action or rightful outcome.

Word by Word

• सहस्रशक्तिः: one having a thousand powers/energies
• सहस्रशक्तिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सहस्रशक्ति
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• शतम्: a hundred
• शतम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शत
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• शतशक्तिः: one having a hundred powers/energies
• शतशक्तिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: शतशक्ति
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• दश: ten
• दश: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: दश
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• अपि: also/even
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अपि

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

Speaker

श्षशुर उवाच

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds how people quantify and compare power (thousandfold, hundredfold, tenfold), a motif the Mahābhārata often uses to contrast external might with the deeper claims of dharma—implying that ethical rightness is not reducible to numerical strength.

What is happening in the narrative?

A speaker is listing graded measures of power/strength as part of an argument or description, using numerical scaling to emphasize relative capability and to set up a comparison within the surrounding passage.