Shloka 8

Adhyāya 57 — Arjuna’s Vow-Anxiety, Kṛṣṇa’s Counsel, and the Pāśupata Authorization

Devanagari script

हेमशृड्ग्यो रौप्यखुरा: सवत्सा: कांस्यदोहना:

Transliteration

hemaśṛṅgyo raupyakhurāḥ savatsāḥ kāṃsyadohanāḥ

Translation

ナーラダは言った。「（そこには）角は黄金、蹄は白銀の牛がいて、いずれも子牛を伴い、乳は青銅の器に搾り入れられていた。」

Word by Word

• हेमशृङ्ग्यः: having golden horns
• हेमशृङ्ग्यः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: हेम-शृङ्गिन्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• रौप्यखुराः: having silver hooves
• रौप्यखुराः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: रौप्य-खुर
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• सवत्साः: with calves
• सवत्साः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: स-वत्स
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• कांस्यदोहनाḥ: yielding (milk) into bronze vessels / having bronze milking-pails
• कांस्यदोहनाḥ: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कांस्य-दोहन
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Nārada
• cows (gauḥ)
• calves (vatsa)
• golden horns
• silver hooves
• bronze milking vessels

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses idealized, precious attributes of cows to highlight the sanctity and merit of auspicious wealth when aligned with dharma—especially in contexts of gifting, ritual propriety, and righteous conduct—standing as a moral counterpoint to the violence of the war narrative.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nārada is describing extraordinary cows—gold-horned, silver-hoofed, each with a calf, and milked into bronze vessels—evoking a scene of exceptional prosperity and ritualized abundance within the broader Drona Parva account.