Shloka 38
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
चूडाला: कर्णिकाराश्र प्रह्ष्टा: पिठरोदरा: । अतिहस्वातिदीर्घाक्ष प्रलम्बाश्वातिभैरवा:,कितनोंके मस्तकपर शिखाएँ थीं। कितने ही कनेरके फूल धारण करते थे। बहुतेरे पार्षद अत्यन्त हर्षसे खिल उठे थे। कितनोंके पेट बटलोई या कड़ाहीके समान जान पड़ते थे। कोई बहुत नाटे, कोई बहुत मोटे, कोई बहुत लंबे और कोई अत्यन्त भयंकर थे
cūḍālāḥ karṇikārāś ca prahṛṣṭāḥ piṭharodarāḥ | atihasvātidīrghākṣāḥ pralambāś cātibhairavāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Some bore topknots; some wore blossoms of the karṇikāra tree. Many of those attendants were exultant, their faces lit with fierce delight. Some had bellies like pots or cauldrons. Some were extremely short, some grotesquely large, some very tall, and some were utterly terrifying in appearance.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral atmosphere of the Sauptika episode: violence undertaken in the darkness of night is accompanied by imagery of the grotesque and the dreadful, suggesting a drift from dharma toward fear, excess, and adharma.
Sañjaya narrates to Dhṛtarāṣṭra a vision-like description of fierce, strange attendants—varied in form, ornament, and size—whose terrifying appearance and exhilaration heighten the ominous mood surrounding the nocturnal events of the Sauptika Parva.