Shloka 17
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
ऋक्षमार्जारवदना व्याप्रद्वीपिमुखास्तथा । काकवकत्रा: प्लवमुखा: शुकवक्त्रास्तथैव च,उनके रूप कुत्ते, सूअर और ऊँटोंके समान थे; मुँह घोड़ों, गीदड़ों और गाय-बैलोंके समान जान पड़ते थे। किन्हींके मुख रीछोंके समान थे तो किन्हींके बिलावोंके समान। कोई बाघोंके समान मुँहवाले थे तो कोई चीतोंके। कितने ही गणोंके मुख कौओं, वानरों, तोतों, बड़े-बड़े अजगरों और हंसोंके समान थे। भारत! कितनोंकी कान्ति भी हंसोंके समान सफेद थी, कितने ही गणोंके मुख कठफोरवा पक्षी और नीलकण्ठके समान थे
sañjaya uvāca |
ṛkṣa-mārjāra-vadanā vyāghra-dvīpi-mukhās tathā |
kāka-vaktrāḥ plava-mukhāḥ śuka-vaktrās tathaiva ca ||
Sañjaya said: “Some of those beings had faces like bears and cats; others had the mouths of tigers and leopards. Some were crow-faced; some had the faces of monkeys; and some had parrot-like faces as well.” In the grim aftermath of war, this catalogue of animal-faced forms heightens the sense of dread and moral dislocation: the night is filled with uncanny, predatory imagery, suggesting how violence and adharma distort the world into something feral and terrifying.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how the atmosphere surrounding nocturnal violence becomes morally and psychologically ‘bestial’: predatory, uncanny, and fear-inducing. In the Sauptika context, it functions as a warning-sign of adharma—when slaughter is pursued in darkness, the world appears filled with distorted, animalistic forms.
Sañjaya is narrating to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the terrifying sights associated with the night episode of the Sauptika Parva. He lists beings (or apparitions) with faces resembling various animals and birds—bears, cats, tigers, leopards, crows, monkeys, and parrots—intensifying the dread and ominous tone of the scene.