Shloka 122

Devanagari script

शिरोहारी विमर्शश्न सर्वलक्षणलक्षित: । अक्षश्ष रथयोगी च सर्वयोगी महाबल:

Transliteration

śirohārī vimarśaś ca sarvalakṣaṇalakṣitaḥ | akṣaś ca rathayogī ca sarvayogī mahābalaḥ ||

Translation

وایو دیو نے کہا: “وہ شِروہاری ہے—سوچ سمجھ کر بدکاروں کے سر کاٹنے والا۔ وہ ہر نیک و مبارک علامت سے متصف ہے۔ وہ اَکش ہے—رتھ کی دھُری—اور رتھ کے جُتانے کا ماہر۔ وہ سَروَیوگی، ہر دم یوگ میں قائم، اور عظیم قوت والا ہے۔”

Word by Word

• {'śirohārī': 'head-taker

• one who beheads or decisively destroys (especially the wicked)', 'vimarśaḥ': 'deliberation, discernment, reflective judgment', 'sarva-lakṣaṇa-lakṣitaḥ': 'distinguished by all (auspicious) marks or characteristics', 'akṣaḥ': 'axle

• the central pivot of a chariot (also: die in other contexts, but here chariot-axle)', 'ratha-yogī': 'one skilled in yoking/handling the chariot

• charioteering mastery', 'sarva-yogī': 'ever-yoked

• constantly composed', 'mahā-balaḥ': 'of great strength

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu-deva (Wind-god)
• ratha (chariot)
• akṣa (chariot axle)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Power is praised only when guided by discernment (vimarśa) and aligned with dharma: the ideal protector destroys wrongdoing decisively, yet does so with reflective judgment, inner discipline (yoga), and auspicious qualities.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva is describing an exemplary figure through a string of epithets—one who punishes the wicked, bears auspicious marks, functions as the ‘axle’ of the chariot (a stabilizing pivot), is skilled in chariot-control, remains constantly yogic, and possesses great strength.