Anushasana Parva Adhyaya 155 Shloka 85 - Mahabharata | Sanskrit | Vedapath

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Shloka 85

Devanagari script

महाक्रमो महाकर्मा महातेजा महोरग: । महाक्रतुर्महायज्वा महायज्ञों महाहवि:

Transliteration

mahākramo mahākarmā mahātejā mahoragaḥ | mahākratur mahāyajvā mahāyajño mahāhaviḥ ||

Translation

भीष्म उवाच— महाक्रमो महाकर्मा महातेजा महोरगः । महाक्रतुर्महायज्वा महायज्ञो महाहविः ॥

Word by Word

महाक्रमःof great stride/advance; having great movement

महाकर्माof great deeds; performing mighty actions

महातेजाःof great splendor/energy

महोरगःa great serpent (mighty nāga)

महाक्रतुःof great sacrifice/rite; a great yajña-form

महायज्वाa great sacrificer; one who performs great sacrifices

महायज्ञःthe great sacrifice; of the nature of a great yajña

महाहविःgreat oblation; of the nature of a great offering

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

The Supreme Lord (Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa implied by the epithets)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse identifies the Supreme as both the performer of righteous acts and the very substance of worship: He is the sacrificer, the sacrifice, and the offering. Ethically, it implies that dharma is fulfilled when action is consecrated—done for loka-saṅgraha (the welfare and cohesion of the world) and offered inwardly to the Highest rather than claimed as personal merit.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and extols the Supreme through a sequence of divine epithets. This verse is part of that laudatory enumeration, presenting God in sacrificial imagery to connect Vedic ritual, moral duty, and devotion into a single vision.