Shloka 15

Dharma-vyādha on Parental Worship

Pitṛ-mātṛ-śuśrūṣā as Paramadaivata

Devanagari script

चतुर्वेदश्नतुर्मूर्तिस्तथैव च चतुर्मुख:

Transliteration

caturvedaśnatuḥmūrtis tathaiva ca caturmukhaḥ

Translation

മാർക്കണ്ഡേയൻ പറഞ്ഞു—“അവൻ നാലു വേദങ്ങളിലും മూర్తിമാനാണ്; അതുപോലെ തന്നെ ചതുര്മുഖനും.”

Word by Word

• चतुर्वेद: the four Vedas
• चतुर्वेद: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: चतुर् + वेद
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• श्नतुर्मूर्तिः: having the form of Śnatu (as a proper name/epithet)
• श्नतुर्मूर्तिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्नतुर्मूर्ति
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• तथा: thus; likewise
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• एव: indeed; just; also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• चतुर्मुखः: four-faced
• चतुर्मुखः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: चतुर्मुख
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

मार्कण्डेय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Brahmā (implied by 'caturmukhaḥ')
• the four Vedas

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse links divine identity with Vedic revelation and symbolic form: the deity being described is grounded in the authority of the four Vedas and is characterized by the four-faced aspect, a traditional marker of comprehensive knowledge and cosmic creation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Mārkaṇḍeya continues a descriptive praise, identifying the figure under discussion through well-known epithets—‘embodied in the four Vedas’ and ‘four-faced’—to situate the being within Vedic-cosmic imagery (commonly pointing to Brahmā).