Shloka 33

Varṣa-Parvata-Nivāsinām Varnanam

Description of Regions, Mountains, and Their Inhabitants

Devanagari script

सदा निरामयां कृष्णां मन्दगां मदवाहिनीम्‌ । ब्राह्मणीं च महागौरीं दुर्गागपि च भारत

Transliteration

sadā nirāmayāṃ kṛṣṇāṃ mandagāṃ madavāhinīm | brāhmaṇīṃ ca mahāgaurīṃ durgām api ca bhārata ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: “O Bhārata, (they praised/remembered) her who is ever free from affliction—Kṛṣṇā—gentle in her course and bearing the power of sacred exhilaration; the Brahmanical Lady, the Great Fair One, and also Durgā.”

Word by Word

सदाalways

निरामयाम्free from disease, healthy

कृष्णाम्Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī)

मन्दगाम्slow-moving, gently flowing

मदवाहिनीम्carrying intoxication/rapture (i.e., exhilarating)

ब्राह्मणीम्a Brahmin woman; (also) a lady of Brahminical sanctity

चand

महागौरीम्Mahāgaurī (the very fair/bright goddess)

दुर्गाम्Durgā

अपिalso, even

चand

भारतO Bhārata (descendant of Bharata)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Bhārata (Dhṛtarāṣṭra)

Kṛṣṇā

Mahāgaurī

Durgā

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

In the war setting, the verse foregrounds reliance on auspicious, protective divine power—especially the Goddess in her beneficent and formidable aspects—suggesting that ethical endurance and safety are sought through reverence, purity, and remembrance of higher protection amid violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports an invocation/praise of the Goddess using multiple epithets—Kṛṣṇā, Brāhmaṇī, Mahāgaurī, and Durgā—highlighting her health-giving, gentle, and power-bearing nature as a protective presence in the unfolding battle narrative.