Shloka 93
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
आपका मुख विकृत है। जिह्नला खड्गके समान है। आपका मुख दाढ़ोंसे सुशोभित होता है। आप कच्चे-पक्के फलोंके गुद्देके लिये लुभायमान रहते हैं। तुम्बी और वीणा आपको विशेष प्रिय हैं। आपको प्रणाम है ।। नमो वृषाय वृष्याय गोवृषाय वृषाय च । कटंकटाय दण्डाय नम: पचपचाय च
āpaka mukha vikṛta hai. jihnalā khaḍga-ke samāna hai. āpaka mukha dāṛhoṃ-se suśobhita hotā hai. āpa kaccā-pakkā phaloṃ-ke gudde ke liye lubhāyamāna rahate haiṃ. tumbī aur vīṇā āpako viśeṣa priya haiṃ. āpako praṇāma hai. namo vṛṣāya vṛṣyāya govṛṣāya vṛṣāya ca | kaṭaṅkaṭāya daṇḍāya namaḥ pacapacāya ca ||
विकृतं ते मुखं देव जिह्वा खड्गसमोपमा । दंष्ट्राभिरलङ्कृतं वक्त्रं पक्कापक्वफलास्वादलोलुपं च । तुम्बी वीणा च तेऽत्यन्तं प्रिया इति । नमस्ते ।। नमो वृषाय वृष्याय गोवृषाय वृषाय च । कटंकटाय दण्डाय नमः पचपचाय च ॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as a protective or devotional litany: by naming and saluting a fearsome power through multiple epithets, the reciter acknowledges its might and seeks auspiciousness or restraint of harm. Ethically, it reflects the Mahābhārata’s theme that speech (stuti, naming, mantra-like praise) can be a disciplined act aligned with dharma when used to avert danger and uphold order.
Bhishma is reciting a description and a sequence of salutations to a formidable being, marked by terrifying features (distorted face, sword-like tongue, fangs) and distinctive likes (fruit pulp, tumbī and vīṇā). The clustered names—Vṛṣa, Vṛṣya, Govṛṣa, Kaṭaṅkaṭa, Daṇḍa, Pacapaca—indicate a formal invocation, as if addressing different aspects or appellations of the same power.