Padma Purana — Bhumi Khanda, Shloka 9
Aśokasundarī and Huṇḍa: Chastity, Karma, and the Foretold Rise of Nahuṣa
दैत्यानामप्यहं श्रेष्ठो मत्समो नास्ति राक्षसः । देवेषु मर्त्यलोकेषु तपसा यशसा कुले
daityānāmapyahaṃ śreṣṭho matsamo nāsti rākṣasaḥ | deveṣu martyalokeṣu tapasā yaśasā kule
ဒೈတျယတို့အတွင်း၌ပင် ငါသည် အမြင့်မြတ်ဆုံး၊ ရာක්ෂသတို့အတွင်း ငါနှင့်တူသူ မရှိ။ ဒေဝတို့နှင့် လူ့လောက၌လည်း တပဿ၊ ဂုဏ်သတင်းနှင့် မျိုးရိုးအရ ငါသည် ထူးချွန်၏။
Unspecified (a Daitya/Rākṣasa boasting speaker within the narrative context)
Primary Rasa: raudra
Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka
Sandhi Resolution Notes: दैत्यानामप्यहं = दैत्यानाम् + अपि + अहम्; नास्ति = न + अस्ति
FAQs
It expresses self-glorifying pride—claiming supremacy among Daityas and Rakshasas, and asserting superiority through tapas (austerity), yaśas (reputation), and kula (lineage).
It lists the bases of the speaker’s claimed excellence: ascetic power (tapas), public renown (yaśas), and noble or strong lineage (kula)—a triad often used to signal worldly/spiritual status.
Such boasts commonly serve as a warning about arrogance: greatness grounded in ego, status, or power is unstable and often precedes a moral or narrative reversal.