Shloka 23

Devanagari script

राजमार्गाः क्रियन्तां मे पताकाभिरलंकृता: । पुष्पोपहारैररच्यन्तां देवताश्चापि सर्वश:

Transliteration

rājamārgāḥ kriyantāṁ me patākābhir alaṅkṛtāḥ | puṣpopahārair aracyantāṁ devatāś cāpi sarvaśaḥ ||

Translation

എനിക്കായി രാജമാർഗങ്ങൾ ഒരുക്കി പതാകകളാൽ അലങ്കരിക്കട്ടെ. പുഷ്പോപഹാരങ്ങൾ ഒരുക്കട്ടെ; എല്ലായിടത്തും ദേവതകൾക്കും പൂജ നടത്തട്ടെ.

Word by Word

राजमार्गाःroyal roads

क्रियन्ताम्let (them) be made / be prepared

मेfor me / my

पताकाभिःwith banners

अलंकृताःadorned

पुष्पोपहारैःwith flowers and offerings

अरच्यन्ताम्let (them) be arranged / prepared

देवताःthe deities

चand

अपिalso

सर्वशःeverywhere / in every way

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

rājamārga (royal roads)

patākā (banners/flags)

puṣpa-upahāra (flower offerings)

devatā (deities)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Public power is to be exercised with auspiciousness and responsibility: civic spaces are ordered, beauty is used to uplift the community, and divine worship is invoked to align political action with dharma and collective well-being.

What is happening in the narrative?

An instruction is issued to prepare for a royal occasion—clearing and decorating the main roads with flags, arranging flower-offerings, and ensuring widespread worship of the deities—signaling a formal procession or reception conducted with ritual propriety.