Shloka 18

Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)

Devanagari script

महाजगरवक्त्राश्व हंसवक्त्रा: सितप्रभा: । दार्वाघाटमुखाश्नलापि चाषवक्त्राश्न भारत,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

Transliteration

mahājagaravaktrāśva-haṃsavaktrāḥ sitaprabhāḥ | dārvāghāṭamukhāś caiva cāṣavaktrāś ca bhārata ||

Translation

Sanjaya said: “O Bhārata, some of those beings had faces like great pythons, horses, and swans, shining with a pale-white radiance. Others had mouths like the dārvāghāṭa-bird, and still others like the cāṣa-bird.” In the Sauptika Parva’s night of terror, this catalogue of animal-faced forms heightens the moral atmosphere: the slaughter carried out in sleep is framed as a descent into the uncanny and the inhuman, where violence appears as a swarm of distorted, predatory embodiments rather than a righteous battle.

Word by Word

महाजगरवक्त्राश्वहंसवक्त्राःthose whose faces were like great pythons, horses, and swans

सितप्रभाःwhite-lustrous, of pale radiance

दार्वाघाटमुखाःthose having mouths like (the bird) dārvāghāṭa

उलूकापिand (some) owls (i.e., owl-faced ones implied)

चाषवक्त्राःthose having faces like chāṣa-birds

भारतO Bhārata

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

Dhritarashtra (addressed as Bhārata)

gaṇāḥ (hosts of beings, implied)

mahājagara (great python)

aśva (horse)

haṃsa (swan)

dārvāghāṭa (bird, as a mouth/face comparison)

cāṣa (bird, as a mouth/face comparison)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Geographic Context

Sandhi Notes