Shloka 18
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
तत्र चैव रमन्तीमे भूतसंघा: शुचिस्मिते । न च भूतगणैर्देवि विनाहं वस्तुमुत्सहे,पवित्र मुसकानवाली देवि! ये मेरे भूतगण श्मशानमें ही रमते हैं। इन भूतगणोंके बिना मैं कहीं भी रह नहीं सकता
tatra caiva ramantī me bhūtasaṅghāḥ śucismite | na ca bhūtagaṇair devi vināhaṃ vastum utsahe ||
اے پاکیزہ تبسم والی دیوی! میرے یہ بھوتوں کے جتھے وہیں—شمشان میں ہی—خوش رہتے ہیں۔ اور اے دیوی، ان بھوت گنوں کے بغیر میں کہیں بھی ٹھہرنے کی ہمت نہیں کرتا۔
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights Śiva’s inseparability from his bhūta-gaṇas—beings associated with liminal, fearsome spaces—suggesting an ethic of inclusion and transcendence of social notions of purity/impurity: the divine embraces even those on the margins.
Śiva addresses Devī with the epithet “śucismitā” and explains that his attendant hosts delight in that particular place (implied by context as a cremation-ground/liminal abode), and that he is unwilling to dwell elsewhere without them.