Shloka 2

Devanagari script

अहो रामस्य वार्ष्णेय शक्रस्येव महात्मन: । विक्रमो वसुधा येन क्रोधान्नरि:क्षत्रिया कृता,“वृष्णिनन्दन! महात्मा परशुरामका पराक्रम तो इन्द्रके समान अत्यन्त अद्भुत है, जिन्होंने क्रोध करके यह सारी पृथ्वी क्षत्रियोंसे सूनी कर दी

Transliteration

aho rāmasya vārṣṇeya śakrasy eva mahātmanaḥ | vikramo vasudhā yena krodhān nariḥ-kṣatriyā kṛtā |

Translation

वृष्णिनंदना! महात्मा परशुरामांचा पराक्रम इंद्रासारखाच अद्भुत आहे—ज्यांच्या क्रोधाने ही सारी वसुधा क्षत्रियांपासून रिकामी झाली.

Word by Word

अहोah! indeed!

रामस्यof Rama (Parashurama)

वार्ष्णेयO descendant of Vrishni (Krishna)!

शक्रस्यof Shakra (Indra)

इवlike, as

महात्मनःof the great-souled one

विक्रमःvalor, prowess

वसुधाthe earth

येनby whom

क्रोधात्from/through anger

नरिःwithout men; deserted (fem.)

क्षत्रियाby the Kshatriyas

कृताmade, rendered

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Rāma (Paraśurāma, Jāmadagnya)

Vārṣṇeya (descendant of Vṛṣṇi; Kṛṣṇa as addressee)

Śakra (Indra)

Vasudhā (Earth)

Kṣatriyas

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?

The verse highlights the immense destructive capacity of wrath even in a great person: Paraśurāma’s anger leads to a world-altering outcome (the earth ‘bereft of kṣatriyas’), implicitly pointing to the ethical need for restraint and the grave social consequences when power is driven by anger.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana addresses ‘Vārṣṇeya’ (Kṛṣṇa) and marvels at Paraśurāma’s Indra-like valor, recalling the traditional account that, in anger, he annihilated the kṣatriya class across the earth.