Shloka 85

Kārttikeya-Abhiṣecana: Mātṛgaṇa-Nāma Saṃkīrtana and Skanda’s Commission

Devanagari script

पारावतमुखाश्चान्ये तथा वृषमुखा: परे । कोकिलाभाननाश्षान्ये श्येनतित्तिरिकानना:,कुछ पार्षदोंके मुख कबूतर, बैल, कोयल, बाज और तीतरोंके समान थे

Transliteration

pārāvatamukhāścānye tathā vṛṣamukhāḥ pare | kokilābhānanāś cānye śyenatittirikānanāḥ ||

Translation

ไวศัมปายนะกล่าวว่า “ในหมู่ผู้ติดตามนั้น บางพวกมีใบหน้าเหมือนนกพิราบ บางพวกมีใบหน้าเหมือนโคผู้ บางพวกมีใบหน้าเหมือนนกโกกิละ และบางพวกมีใบหน้าเหมือนเหยี่ยวกับนกกระทา”

Word by Word

पारावत-मुखाःhaving faces like pigeons/doves

चand

अन्येothers

तथाlikewise/so

वृष-मुखाःhaving faces like bulls

परेothers (on the other hand)

कोकिल-आभ-आननाःhaving faces resembling cuckoos

अन्येothers

श्येन-तित्तिरि-काननाःhaving faces like hawks and partridges

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

attendants/retinue (pārṣadāḥ implied)

pigeon (pārāvata)

bull (vṛṣa)

cuckoo (kokila)

hawk (śyena)

partridge (tittiri)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse primarily serves a descriptive purpose: it highlights the uncanny, non-human features of a retinue, suggesting the presence of forces beyond ordinary human society. Ethically, such imagery in the epic often frames war and its surrounding events as occurring under vast cosmic and unseen influences, urging humility about human control.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana is describing a group of attendants (pārṣadas) whose faces resemble various animals and birds—pigeons, bulls, cuckoos, hawks, and partridges—emphasizing a strange, supernatural atmosphere around the events being narrated in the Shalya Parva.