Shloka 56
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
भयंकर कर्म करनेवाले तथा अपनी महिमासे कभी च्युत न होनेवाले महात्मा रुद्रदेवकी रौद्रकर्मोद्वारा ही स्तुति करके अश्वत्थामा हाथ जोड़कर इस प्रकार बोला ।। द्रौणिस्वाच इममात्मानमपद्याहं जातमाड्रिरसे कुले । स्वग्नौ जुहोमि भगवन् प्रतिगृह्नीष्व मां बलिम्
sañjaya uvāca | bhayaṅkara-karma-karaṇe vāle tathā svamahimāse kabhī cyuta na honevāle mahātmā rudradeva kī raudra-karmodvārā hī stuti karke aśvatthāmā hātha joṛakara isa prakāra bolā || drauṇir uvāca | imam ātmānam apadya ahaṃ jātam āḍrirase kule | svagnau juhomi bhagavan pratigṛhṇīṣva māṃ balim ||
Sañjaya said: Having praised the great Rudra—whose deeds are terrible and whose glory never wanes—by invoking his fierce acts, Aśvatthāmā, with folded hands, spoke thus. Drauṇi (Aśvatthāmā) said: “Taking refuge in this very self that has been born in the lineage of Āḍrirasa, I offer myself into my own fire. O Blessed Lord, accept me as an oblation.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in moments of moral collapse and extreme violence, a person may seek divine sanction through ritual language—offering oneself as an oblation. It raises an ethical tension: devotion and sacrifice can be invoked even to empower fearsome acts, reminding readers to distinguish genuine dharma from self-justifying religiosity.
Sañjaya narrates that Aśvatthāmā praises Rudra’s fierce aspect and then, with folded hands, declares a self-offering into his ‘own fire,’ asking the Lord to accept him as an oblation—an act of consecration before the dreadful events of the Sauptika episode.