Shloka 24

Muñjavān on Himavat: Maheśvara’s abode, Śiva-stuti, and sacrificial gold

Chapter 8

Devanagari script

कपालमालिने चैव सुवर्णमुकुटाय च । महादेवाय कृष्णाय तयम्बकायानघाय च

Transliteration

kapālamāline caiva suvarṇamukuṭāya ca | mahādevāya kṛṣṇāya tryambakāyānaghāya ca

Translation

कपालमालिने चैव सुवर्णमुकुटाय च । महादेवाय कृष्णाय त्र्यम्बकायानघाय च ॥

Word by Word

कपालमालिनेto the wearer of a garland of skulls

चand

एवindeed/also

सुवर्णमुकुटायto (him) with a golden crown

चand

महादेवायto Mahādeva (the great god)

कृष्णायto Kṛṣṇa (the dark one)

त्र्यम्बकायto Tryambaka (the three-eyed one)

अनघायto the sinless/blameless one

चand

Speaker

संवर्त उवाच

Characters & Entities

Saṃvarta

Mahādeva (Śiva)

Kapālamālin (Śiva as skull-garlanded)

Tryambaka (Śiva as three-eyed)

Suvarṇamukuṭa (golden crown/diadem)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches reverent devotion that embraces the fullness of the divine: Śiva is praised through both fearsome and regal epithets, suggesting that ultimate purity and protection can appear in forms that transcend ordinary categories of ‘terrible’ and ‘auspicious’.

What is happening in the narrative?

Saṃvarta offers a compact hymn of salutations, invoking Śiva by a sequence of names and attributes (skull-garlanded, golden-crowned, three-eyed, sinless), establishing a devotional and ritual tone within the Ashvamedhika Parva context.