Shloka 306
Adhyāya 6: Pañca-mahābhūta–guṇa-nirdeśa and Sudarśana-dvīpa
Five Elements, Sensory Qualities, and a Cosmographic Island
शतं वर्षसहस्राणां शिरसैव पिनाकधृक् । वह पवित्र कुण्ड स्वयं गंगाजीने ही प्रकट किया है, जो अपनी अगाध जलराशिके कारण समुद्रके समान शोभा पाता है। जिन्हें अपने ऊपर धारण करना पर्वतोंके लिये भी कठिन था, उन्हीं गंगाको पिनाकधारी भगवान् शिव एक लाख वर्षोतक अपने मस्तकपर ही धारण किये रहे
sañjaya uvāca | śataṁ varṣa-sahasrāṇāṁ śirasāiva pinākadhṛk | vahati pavitraṁ kuṇḍaṁ svayaṁ gaṅgā-jinaṁ hi prakaṭīkṛtam | yāṁ dhārayituṁ parvateṣv api duṣkarāṁ tāṁ gaṅgāṁ pinākadhārī bhagavān śivaḥ lakṣaṁ varṣāṇi mastake eva dhārayām āsa |
サञ्जयは言った。「ピナーカの弓を帯びる主、シヴァは、聖なる水の盆—ガンガーの清浄なる顕現—を、みずからの頭上に十万年のあいだ載せて保たれた。その水は底知れず、海のごとく輝く。山々でさえ支え難いほど重きガンガーを、ピナーカを持つ神は、まる十万年、頭上に担い続けた—それは、世界を呑みかねぬものを抑え護る、神の節制と守護の力の象徴である。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights divine restraint and protective strength: Śiva contains and bears the overwhelming force of the Gaṅgā for the welfare of the world, modeling the dharmic ideal of holding great power under control so it becomes purifying rather than destructive.
Sanjaya describes Śiva as Pināka-bearer who sustained the manifested Gaṅgā—likened to an oceanic, unfathomable flood—in a sacred basin and upon his head for a vast span of time, emphasizing that what even mountains could not bear was borne by Śiva.