Shloka 41

Devanagari script

अचिन्त्यबलवीर्याश्ष तथाचिन्त्यपराक्रमा: । वृक्षचत्वरवासिन्यश्चतुष्पथनिकेतना:,उनके बल, वीर्य और पराक्रम अचिन्त्य हैं। वे वृक्षों, चबूतरों और चौराहोंपर निवास करती हैं

Transliteration

acintyabalavīryāś ca tathā cintyaparākramāḥ | vṛkṣacatvaravāsinyaś catuṣpathaniketanāḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “Their strength and vital power are beyond imagining, and so too is their prowess. They dwell by trees, on raised platforms, and at crossroads—making such liminal places their habitual abodes.”

Word by Word

अचिन्त्यबलवीर्याःwhose strength and vigor are inconceivable

तथाand likewise

अचिन्त्यपराक्रमाःwhose valor is inconceivable

वृक्षचत्वरवासिन्यःdwellers at trees and platforms (chabūtaras)

चतुष्पथनिकेतनाःhaving their abode at crossroads

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

trees (vṛkṣa)

public squares/platforms (catvara)

crossroads (catuṣpatha)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the presence of forces that exceed ordinary human calculation and that inhabit liminal public spaces (trees, platforms, crossroads). In the epic’s ethical atmosphere, such descriptions function as warnings: when dharma is strained by war, the world seems filled with unsettling, hard-to-grasp powers, urging vigilance and restraint.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana is describing formidable beings whose power and valor are ‘inconceivable’ and whose abodes are trees, public squares/platforms, and crossroads—typical boundary-locations associated in epic narrative with ominous or uncanny presences during the war’s climactic phase.