Shloka 44
Adhyāya 123 — Droṇa’s Pedagogy: Arjuna’s Preeminence, Ekalavya’s Self-Training, and the Bhāsa-Lakṣya Trial
एष युद्धे महादेवं तोषयिष्यति शंकरम् । अस्त्रं पाशुपतं नाम तस्मात् तुष्टादवाप्स्यति
eṣa yuddhe mahādevaṃ toṣayiṣyati śaṅkaram | astraṃ pāśupataṃ nāma tasmāt tuṣṭād avāpsyati |
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「この戦において彼はマハーデーヴァ・シャンカラ（シヴァ）を歓ばせる。偉大なる主が満足されれば、彼はその御手より『パーシュパタ』と名づけられた武器を授かるであろう。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links legitimate martial power to devotion and divine approval: the highest weapons and decisive success are portrayed as gifts granted when a great deity is genuinely pleased, implying that force should be guided by dharma and reverence rather than mere ambition.
Vaiśampāyana foretells that the hero being discussed will, in the course of war, please Śiva (Mahādeva/Śaṅkara) and, once Śiva is satisfied, will receive the famed Pāśupata weapon from him.