Shloka 96
Adhyāya 90: Babhruvāhana’s Reception and the Commencement of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Aśvamedha
Devanagari script
सहस्रशक्तिश्न शतं शतशक्तिर्दशापि च
Transliteration
sahasraśaktiśna śataṃ śataśaktir daśāpi ca
Translation
“Seribu kekuatan—seratus—seratus kekuatan—dan bahkan sepuluh juga.”
Word by Word
सहस्रशक्तिःone having a thousand powers/energies
सहस्रशक्तिः:
Karta
TypeNoun
Rootसहस्रशक्ति
FormFeminine, Nominative, Singular
नnot
न:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootन
शतम्a hundred
शतम्:
Karma
TypeNoun
Rootशत
FormNeuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular
शतशक्तिःone having a hundred powers/energies
शतशक्तिः:
Karta
TypeNoun
Rootशतशक्ति
FormFeminine, Nominative, Singular
दशten
दश:
Karma
TypeNoun
Rootदश
FormNeuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular
अपिalso/even
अपि:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootअपि
चand
च:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootच
Speaker
श्षशुर उवाच
Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)
Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)
Philosophical Teaching
Political Layer
Sandhi Notes
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds how people quantify and compare power (thousandfold, hundredfold, tenfold), a motif the Mahābhārata often uses to contrast external might with the deeper claims of dharma—implying that ethical rightness is not reducible to numerical strength.
A speaker is listing graded measures of power/strength as part of an argument or description, using numerical scaling to emphasize relative capability and to set up a comparison within the surrounding passage.