Shloka 30
याम्यायाव्यक्तकेशाय सद्वृत्ते शड्कराय च | काम्याय हरिनेत्राय स्थाणवे पुरुषाय च,जो यमके अनुकूल रहनेवाले काल हैं, अव्यक्त स्वरूप आकाश ही जिनका केश है, जो सदाचारसम्पन्न, सबका कल्याण करनेवाले, कमनीय, पिंगलनेत्र, सदा स्थित रहनेवाले और अन्तर्यामी पुरुष हैं, जिनके केश भूरे एवं पिंगलवर्णके हैं, जिनका मस्तक मुण्डित है, जो दुबले-पतले और भवसागरसे पार उतारनेवाले हैं, जो सूर्यस्वरूप, उत्तम तीर्थ और अत्यन्त वेगशाली हैं, उन देवाधिदेव महादेवको नमस्कार है
yāmyāyāvyaktakeśāya sadvṛtte śaṅkarāya ca | kāmyāya harinetrāya sthāṇave puruṣāya ca ||
Vyāsa said: Salutations to that Supreme Lord—Time itself, favorable to Yama; whose ‘hair’ is the unmanifest (the subtle ether-like expanse); who is established in right conduct and is Śaṅkara, the benefactor of all; who is desirable and gracious; whose eyes are tawny; who is the Unmoving (Sthāṇu), the inner Person who abides within all beings. The verse functions as a devotional invocation, grounding the violent events of the war in a higher moral order where even death and time are governed by a cosmic, welfare-bearing principle.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames Śiva as the cosmic governor of time and death (Kāla aligned with Yama) and as the indwelling, steady Puruṣa. Ethically, it suggests that even amid war’s chaos, events unfold within a higher dharmic-cosmic order overseen by a beneficent divine principle (Śaṅkara).
Vyāsa delivers a hymn-like salutation to Mahādeva, listing epithets that describe his cosmic and inner nature. This devotional interlude elevates the narrative tone, invoking divine authority and stability before or amid descriptions of intense conflict in the Droṇa Parva.