Shloka 131
Śiva-stavarāja: Upamanyu’s Preface and Initiation of the Śarva-Nāma Enumeration
Anuśāsana-parva 17
छत्र॑ सुच्छत्रो विख्यातो लोक: सर्वाश्रय: क्रम: । मुण्डो विरूपो विकृतो दण्डी कुण्डी विकुर्वण:
chatraṁ succhatro vikhyāto lokaḥ sarvāśrayaḥ kramaḥ | muṇḍo virūpo vikṛto daṇḍī kuṇḍī vikurvaṇaḥ ||
वायुदेव उवाच—स छत्रं सुच्छत्रो विख्यातो लोकः सर्वाश्रयः क्रमः। मुण्डो विरूपो विकृतो दण्डी कुण्डी विकुर्वणः॥
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the highest reality (here praised through epithets) both sustains the cosmos as its ‘order’ and may appear in paradoxical, ascetic forms; therefore, ethical discernment should not judge the divine or the truly great merely by external appearance or unconventional conduct.
Vāyu-deva speaks a hymn-like description, listing striking attributes—protector of all, identical with the world and its governing course, yet also appearing as a shaven-headed mendicant with staff and bowl—emphasizing a deity’s/ideal being’s hidden greatness behind austere or unusual outward signs.