Shloka 71

Devanagari script

सर्वतः:श्रुतिमँललोके सर्वमावृत्य तिष्ठसि । शंकुकर्ण महाकर्ण कुम्भकर्णारणवालय

Transliteration

sarvataḥ śrutim̐l loke sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhasi | śaṅkukarṇa mahākarṇa kumbhakarṇāraṇavālaya ||

Translation

நீ உலகமெங்கும் கேள்விச் சக்தியுடன், அனைத்தையும் மூடிக்கொண்டு நிலைத்திருக்கிறாய். ஓ சங்குகர்ணா, ஓ மகாகர்ணா, ஓ கும்பகர்ணா, ஓ ஆரணவாலயா!

Word by Word

सर्वतःon all sides; everywhere

श्रुतिमत्O one endowed with hearing; O attentive one

लोकेin the world

सर्वम्all; everything

आवृत्यhaving covered; enveloping

तिष्ठसिyou stand; you remain

शंकुकर्णO cone-eared one

महाकर्णO great-eared one

कुम्भकर्णO pot-eared one (name/epithet)

अरणवालयO one who is the enclosure/abode of the forest (epithet; reading uncertain)

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Śaṅkukarṇa

Mahākarṇa

Kumbhakarṇa

Āraṇavālaya

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?

The verse functions as a laudatory address emphasizing all-pervading attentiveness—an ideal of heightened listening/awareness—by invoking names/epithets associated with extraordinary ears or hearing.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma, in the course of his Śānti Parva instruction, addresses a figure using a string of epithets/names (Śaṅkukarṇa, Mahākarṇa, Kumbhakarṇa, Āraṇavālaya), portraying them as one who ‘covers the world with hearing’—a rhetorical praise or invocation within the discourse.