Shloka 36

Devanagari script

बहुरूपाय विश्वस्य पतये मुछजवाससे । सहस्रशिरसे चैव सहस्रनयनाय च

Transliteration

bahurūpāya viśvasya pataye muñjāvāsase | sahasraśirase caiva sahasranayanāya ca ||

Translation

Vyāsa said: “(Salutations) to the Lord of the universe, who assumes many forms; to Him who is clad in muñja-grass (as an ascetic emblem); to the thousand-headed One, and likewise to the thousand-eyed One.”

Word by Word

• बहुरूपाय: to the many-formed one
• बहुरूपाय: Sampradana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: बहुरूप
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• विश्वस्य: of the universe
• विश्वस्य: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: विश्व
• Form: Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• पतये: to the lord
• पतये: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: पति
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• मुचजवाससे: to him whose garment is of muñja-grass
• मुचजवाससे: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: मुचजवास
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• सहस्रशिरसे: to the thousand-headed one
• सहस्रशिरसे: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सहस्रशिरस्
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

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

• एव: indeed/also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• सहस्रनयनाय: to the thousand-eyed one
• सहस्रनयनाय: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सहस्रनयन
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

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

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• Lord of the universe (cosmic deity, often identified with Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa or the all-pervading Supreme)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames ethical vision through devotion: the Supreme is both many-formed (present in diverse beings and situations) and all-seeing (thousand-eyed), implying that actions in war and peace fall under a higher moral witness and cosmic order.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa introduces or continues a hymn of salutation, invoking the universal Lord with grand epithets—many-formed, ascetically clad, thousand-headed and thousand-eyed—setting a solemn, sacred tone amid the Drona Parva’s war narrative.