Shloka 85
Kārttikeya-Abhiṣecana: Mātṛgaṇa-Nāma Saṃkīrtana and Skanda’s Commission
पारावतमुखाश्चान्ये तथा वृषमुखा: परे । कोकिलाभाननाश्षान्ये श्येनतित्तिरिकानना:,कुछ पार्षदोंके मुख कबूतर, बैल, कोयल, बाज और तीतरोंके समान थे
pārāvatamukhāścānye tathā vṛṣamukhāḥ pare | kokilābhānanāś cānye śyenatittirikānanāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana berkata: “Dalam kalangan para pengiring itu, ada yang berwajah seperti burung merpati; yang lain seperti lembu jantan. Ada yang berwajah seperti burung kukuk, dan ada pula yang berwajah seperti helang dan burung pegar.” Demikianlah digambarkan suatu rombongan yang ajaib, seakan dari alam lain, bertanda bentuk-bentuk campuran yang menyerupai haiwan.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse primarily serves a descriptive purpose: it highlights the uncanny, non-human features of a retinue, suggesting the presence of forces beyond ordinary human society. Ethically, such imagery in the epic often frames war and its surrounding events as occurring under vast cosmic and unseen influences, urging humility about human control.
Vaiśampāyana is describing a group of attendants (pārṣadas) whose faces resemble various animals and birds—pigeons, bulls, cuckoos, hawks, and partridges—emphasizing a strange, supernatural atmosphere around the events being narrated in the Shalya Parva.