Shloka 14
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
केशास्थिकलिले भीमे कपालघटसंकुले । गृध्रगोमायुबहुले चिताग्निशतसंकुले
keśāsthikalile bhīme kapālaghaṭasaṅkule | gṛdhragomāyubahule citāgniśatasaṅkule ||
یہ ہولناک شمشان بالوں اور ہڈیوں کی کیچڑ سے بھرا ہے؛ کھوپڑیوں اور گھڑوں سے اٹا پڑا ہے۔ گِدھوں اور گیدڑوں کی بہتات ہے، اور سینکڑوں چتا کی آگ سے گھرا ہوا ہے۔
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses stark śmaśāna imagery to confront impermanence and fear: what is normally shunned as impure and terrifying becomes a setting that exposes the body’s fate and loosens attachment. In Śaiva ethical-spiritual context, dwelling amid death can symbolize transcendence of social fear, bodily identification, and conventional notions of purity.
Śrīmahēśvara describes the cremation-ground as a horrific place—choked with hair and bones, strewn with skulls and pots, swarming with vultures and jackals, and lit by countless pyres. The description functions as a response within a dialogue (implied by the surrounding prose in the edition) that questions why one would remain in such an impure, fearsome place.