Shloka 62
ब्रह्मवक्त्राय सर्वाय शड़कराय शिवाय च | नमोस्तु वाचस्पतये प्रजानां पतये नम:,ब्राह्मण जिनके मुख हैं, उन सर्वस्वरूप कल्याणकारी भगवान् शिवको नमस्कार है। वाणीके अधीश्वर और प्रजाओंके पालक आपको नमस्कार है
brahmavaktrāya sarvāya śaṅkarāya śivāya ca | namo 'stu vācaspātaye prajānāṁ pataye namaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Salutations to Śiva—whose face is Brahmā, who is the All, the beneficent Śaṅkara, the auspicious One. Salutations to the Lord of Speech and to the Protector and Sovereign of all creatures. In the midst of war’s turmoil, the narration pauses to anchor itself in reverence, invoking divine guardianship and right utterance as ethical supports for truthful testimony.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse models dharmic narration: before recounting grave events, one invokes the auspicious and beneficent divine (Śiva) and the lordship of speech, implying that truthful, disciplined utterance and reliance on higher order are essential when describing or acting amid violence.
Sañjaya, the narrator of the battlefield events, offers a brief hymn of salutation to Śiva—described with cosmic epithets—and to the lord of speech and protector of beings, serving as a reverential preface or transition within the Drona Parva’s war account.