Shloka 91

Kubera’s Fivefold Nīti and Protection of the Pāṇḍavas (वैश्रवणोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

बहुतालसमुत्सेधा: शैलशृज्गभपरिच्युता:

Transliteration

bahutālasamutsedhāḥ śailaśṛṅgabhaparicyutāḥ

Translation

Vaiśampāyana disse: “Eram altíssimos como grandes palmeiras tāla, como se tivessem sido derrubados dos picos das montanhas.”

Word by Word

• बहु-ताल-समुत्सेधाः: having a great height (as of many tāla-measures)
• बहु-ताल-समुत्सेधाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: समुत्सेध (प्रातिपदिक); बहु, ताल (पूर्वपद-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• शैल-शृङ्ग-भ-परिच्युताः: fallen/slipped down from the mountain-peaks
• शैल-शृङ्ग-भ-परिच्युताः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: परिच्युत (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक, √च्यु 'to fall/slide' with परि-); शैल, शृङ्ग, भ (पूर्वपद-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses a vivid simile—lofty beings or objects brought down like huge masses fallen from mountain-peaks—to highlight impermanence and the humbling power of circumstance; even what seems unshakable can be cast down.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana describes figures (implied from context) as extraordinarily tall and then as having fallen from mountain summits, intensifying the scene’s scale and the sense of sudden downfall or destruction.