Shloka 3
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
शितिकण्ठमजं शुक्र दक्षक्रतुहरं हरम् । विश्वरूपं विरूपाक्ष॑ बहुरूपमुमापतिम्
sañjaya uvāca | śitikaṇṭham ajaṃ śukraṃ dakṣa-kratu-haraṃ haram | viśvarūpaṃ virūpākṣaṃ bahurūpam umāpatim ||
Sañjaya said: Aśvatthāmā addressed the Lord—Śiva—praising him as the blue-throated, unborn, pure and radiant one; the destroyer of Dakṣa’s sacrifice; the great Harā who brings dissolution; the all-formed and many-formed deity, the fearsome-eyed one, and the beloved lord of Umā. In the grim aftermath of war, this hymn frames Aśvatthāmā’s turn toward a terrible, power-bestowing divinity, seeking sanction and strength through devotion rather than restraint.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds Śiva as the cosmic, many-formed power of dissolution and transcendence. Ethically, it signals how devotion can be invoked to seek empowerment in a violent context—raising the question of whether religious praise is being aligned with dharma or used to justify destructive intent.
Sañjaya reports Aśvatthāmā’s hymn to Śiva, stringing together potent epithets (blue-throated, unborn, destroyer of Dakṣa’s sacrifice, many-formed, lord of Umā). This occurs in the Sauptika Parva setting, where Aśvatthāmā is turning toward Śiva for force and sanction amid the grim continuation of the war’s aftermath.