Shloka 98

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

पञ्चालाय सिताड्राय नमः: शमशमाय च । नमश्नण्डिकघण्टाय घण्टायाघण्टघण्टिने

Transliteration

pañcālāya sitādrāya namaḥ śamaśamāya ca | namaś caṇḍikāghaṇṭāya ghaṇṭāyāghaṇṭaghaṇṭine ||

Translation

Bhīṣma nói: Xin đảnh lễ Mahādeva—Đấng được thờ phụng ở Pañcāla và trên Núi Trắng, Đấng luôn an trụ trong sự tĩnh lặng cát tường; xin đảnh lễ Ngài, tiếng vang như chuông khiến các thế lực thù địch khiếp sợ, và chính Ngài được nghe như tiếng chuông ấy, như âm “vô kích” (anāhata), rung động nội tại không do va chạm mà thành.

Word by Word

• {'pañcālāya': 'to/for the Lord associated with Pañcāla (a region/people)

• an epithet indicating a local seat of worship', 'sitādrāya': 'to/for (him of) the White Mountain

• often read as a Himalayan/holy-mountain epithet', 'namaḥ': 'salutation, homage', 'śama': 'calm, tranquility, pacification', 'śamaśamāya': 'to the one who is (supremely) tranquil/whose nature is tranquility (intensive/reduplicated sense)', 'ca': 'and', 'caṇḍikā': 'the fierce goddess (a form of Devī)

• here in compound suggesting association with Caṇḍikā', 'ghaṇṭā': 'bell

• bell-sound', 'ghaṇṭine': 'to the bell-bearing one / the one characterized by a bell (possessor suffix -in)', 'āghaṇṭa': 'unstruck sound

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Mahādeva (Śiva/Maheśvara)
• Pañcāla
• Sitādri (White Mountain)
• Caṇḍikā
• Ghaṇṭā (bell)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse presents Śiva as both the outer protector who inspires dread in hostile forces and the inner principle of tranquility and subtle sound. Ethically, it links devotion with cultivating śama (calm self-mastery): reverence for the divine becomes a means to steady the mind and face conflict without inner agitation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and allied disciplines. Here he recites a hymn of salutation to Maheśvara, invoking regional and symbolic epithets (Pañcāla, Sitādri) and describing the deity through the imagery of bell-sound and unstruck resonance, as part of devotional praise within his teaching.