Anushasana Parva Adhyaya 156 Shloka 25 - Mahabharata | Sanskrit | Vedapath

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Shloka 25

Devanagari script

नन्दी श्वरो महाकायो ग्रामणीर्वृषभध्वज: । ईश्वरा: सर्वलोकानां गणेश्व॒रविनायका:

Transliteration

nandīśvaro mahākāyo grāmaṇī vṛṣabhadhvajaḥ | īśvarāḥ sarvalokānāṃ gaṇeśvaravināyakāḥ, kīrtayan prayataḥ sarvān sarvapāpaiḥ pramucyate |

Translation

नन्दीश्वरो महाकायो ग्रामणीर्वृषभध्वजः । ईश्वरः सर्वलोकानां गणेश्वरविनायकः । कीर्तयन् प्रयतः सर्वान् सर्वपापैः प्रमुच्यते ॥

Word by Word

नन्दीश्वरःNandīśvara (name of Śiva)

महाकायःof great body/huge-bodied

ग्रामणीःleader/chief

वृषभध्वजःhe whose banner is the bull (Śiva)

ईश्वराःlords

सर्वलोकानाम्of all worlds

गणेश्वरविनायकाःGaṇeśvaras and Vināyakas (classes of attendants/deities)

कीर्तयन्praising/reciting (names)

प्रयतःself-restrained, pure, attentive

सर्वान्all (of them)

सर्वपापैःfrom all sins

प्रमुच्यतेis released/freed

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Śiva (implied by epithets such as Vṛṣabhadhvaja)

Nandīśvara (Nandin)

Gaṇeśvara

Vināyaka

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Disciplined and sincere recitation of divine names (especially Śiva and associated powers) is presented as a means of ethical purification—freeing a person from accumulated wrongdoing and strengthening commitment to dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s instruction (Anuśāsana Parva), he enumerates revered names/epithets connected with Śiva and his hosts, stating that a person who praises them with restraint and purity becomes liberated from all sins.