Shloka 19

Varuṇābhiṣeka–Agni-anveṣaṇa–Kaubera-tīrtha

Varuṇa’s Consecration; Search for Agni; Kaubera Sacred Site

Devanagari script

पृथुवस्त्रा मधुलिका मधुकुम्भा तथैव च | पक्षालिका मत्कुलिका जरायुर्जर्जरानना

Transliteration

pṛthuvastrā madhulikā madhukumbhā tathaiva ca | pakṣālikā matkulikā jarāyur jarjarānanā ||

Translation

ਵੈਸ਼ੰਪਾਯਨ ਬੋਲੇ—ਪ੍ਰਿਥੁਵਸਤ੍ਰਾ, ਮਧੁਲਿਕਾ, ਮਧੁਕੁੰਭਾ; ਅਤੇ ਪਕਸ਼ਾਲਿਕਾ, ਮਤਕੁਲਿਕਾ, ਜਰਾਯੁ, ਜਰਜਰਾਨਨਾ—ਇਹ (ਇਸਤਰੀਆਂ) ਸਨ।

Word by Word

• पृथुवस्त्राः: broad-clothed (women)
• पृथुवस्त्राः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पृथुवस्त्र
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• मधुलिकाः: honey-sellers / honey-women (name/class)
• मधुलिकाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मधुलिका
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• मधुकुम्भाः: those with honey-jars / honey-pot women
• मधुकुम्भाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मधुकुम्भ
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• तथा: thus, likewise
• तथा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• एव: indeed, just
• एव: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• च: and
• च: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• पक्षालिकाः: washerwomen / cleaners (name/class)
• पक्षालिकाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पक्षालिका
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• मत्कुलिकाः: women of the Matkula clan / a named group
• मत्कुलिकाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मत्कुलिका
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• जरायुः: afterbirth, placenta; (also) a being born from a womb
• जरायुः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: जरायु
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• जर्जराननाः: having withered/broken faces
• जर्जराननाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जर्जरानना
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Pṛthuvastrā
• Madhulikā
• Madhukumbhā
• Pakṣālikā
• Matkulikā
• Jarāyu
• Jarjarānanā

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This verse is primarily enumerative rather than didactic: it preserves names within the epic’s narrative record. Such catalogues in the Mahābhārata function to memorialize participants and lineages, underscoring the vast human scope of the war narrative.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana continues a list of named women (a catalogue within the Shalya Parva context), presenting successive proper names as part of a broader enumeration in the surrounding passage.