Shloka 3
Varuṇābhiṣeka–Agni-anveṣaṇa–Kaubera-tīrtha
Varuṇa’s Consecration; Search for Agni; Kaubera Sacred Site
प्रभावती विशालाक्षी पालिता गोस्तनी तथा । श्रीमती बहुला चैव तथैव बहुपुत्रिका
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
prabhāvatī viśālākṣī pālitā gostanī tathā |
śrīmatī bahulā caiva tathaiva bahuputrikā |
ekacandrā meghakarṇā meghamālā virocanā ||
Вайшампаяна сказал: «(Среди них были) Прабхавати, Вишалакши, Палита и Гостани; также Шримати, Бахула и равно Бахупутрика; Экачандра, Мегхакарна, Мегхамала и Вирочана».
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse itself is not a direct moral injunction; its function is epic ‘cataloguing’: naming many presences to convey the scale and complexity of forces around the war. Ethically, such catalogues underscore that human action in war unfolds amid vast, often unseen conditions—hence the need for vigilance, restraint, and discernment (viveka) rather than arrogance.
Vaiśampāyana continues enumerating a group of named female beings (as part of a longer list in the chapter). The passage is a segment of that list, giving several names in metrical form, contributing to the chapter’s atmosphere of portent and the sense of many agencies surrounding the battlefield.