Shloka 1

Devanagari script

ऑपन--माज छा अप ऋाल एकषष्ट्यधिकशततमो< ध्याय: भगवान्‌ शड्करके माहात्म्यका वर्णन वायुदेव उवाच युधिष्ठिर महाबाहो महाभाग्यं महात्मन: । रुद्राय बहुरूपाय बहुनाम्ने निबोध मे

Transliteration

Vāyudeva uvāca: Yudhiṣṭhira mahābāho mahābhāgyaṁ mahātmanaḥ | Rudrāya bahurūpāya bahunāmne nibodha me ||

Translation

وایودیو نے کہا: “اے مہاباہو یُدھشٹھِر، اے نہایت بخت والے! میری بات سنو— میں اُس مہاتما بھگوان رُدر کی عظمت بیان کرتا ہوں جو بے شمار روپ دھارتا ہے اور بے شمار ناموں سے پکارا جاتا ہے۔”

Word by Word

• {'Vāyudeva uvāca': 'Vāyudeva said', 'Yudhiṣṭhira': 'Yudhiṣṭhira (eldest Pāṇḍava, exemplar of dharma)', 'mahābāho': 'mighty-armed

• a heroic epithet', 'mahābhāgyam / mahābhāgyaṁ': 'great fortune

• blessedness', 'mahātmanaḥ': 'of the great-souled one

• noble-minded', 'Rudrāya': 'to/for Rudra (Śiva)', 'bahurūpāya': 'having many forms

• multiform', 'bahunāmne': 'having many names

• of many appellations', 'nibodha': 'understand

• learn', 'me': 'from me

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyudeva
• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Rudra (Śiva)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames devotion and reverent attention as prerequisites for understanding divine greatness: Rudra is presented as a single supreme reality expressed through many forms and names, inviting the listener to grasp unity behind multiplicity.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva addresses Yudhiṣṭhira and begins a discourse praising Rudra/Śiva, announcing that he will describe Rudra’s greatness characterized by multiple manifestations and epithets.