Shloka 107

Śoka-śamana: Kṛṣṇa’s Consolation and Nārada’s Exempla to Sṛñjaya

Chapter 29

Devanagari script

शतं कन्या राजपुत्रमेकैकं॑ पृथगन्वयु: । कन्यां कनन्‍्यां शतं नागा नागं॑ नागं शतं रथा:

Transliteration

śataṁ kanyā rājaputram ekaikaṁ pṛthag anvayuḥ | kanyāṁ kanyāṁ śataṁ nāgā nāgaṁ nāgaṁ śataṁ rathāḥ |

Translation

Vāyu nói: “Một trăm thiếu nữ được gả, mỗi người cho một hoàng tử khác nhau. Với mỗi thiếu nữ có một trăm voi; và với mỗi con voi lại có một trăm chiến xa.” Câu kệ nhấn mạnh quy mô của cải vương giả và tập tục đo địa vị bằng sính lễ hôn nhân xa hoa, gợi rằng phú quý và quyền lực có thể nhân lên thành những phô trương vật chất mênh mông.

Word by Word

• शतम्: a hundred
• शतम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शत
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• कन्याः: maidens, daughters
• कन्याः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कन्या
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• राजपुत्रम्: a prince (king's son)
• राजपुत्रम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजपुत्र
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• एकैकम्: each one (one by one)
• एकैकम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: एकैक
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• पृथक्: separately, individually
• पृथक्: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पृथक्

• अन्वयुः: followed, went after (i.e., were given/assigned to)
• अन्वयुः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: अनु-या
• Form: Aorist (Luṅ), 3rd, Plural, Parasmaipada

• कन्याम्: a maiden (bride)
• कन्याम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कन्या
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• कन्याम्: each maiden (repeated distributively)
• कन्याम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कन्या
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• शतम्: a hundred
• शतम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शत
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• नागाः: elephants
• नागाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नाग
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• नागम्: for each elephant / behind each elephant
• नागम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: नाग
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• नागम्: each elephant (repeated distributively)
• नागम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: नाग
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• शतम्: a hundred
• शतम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शत
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• रथाः: chariots
• रथाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: रथ
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• princes (rājaputrāḥ)
• maidens/brides (kanyāḥ)
• elephants (nāgāḥ)
• chariots (rathāḥ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how royal society expresses prestige through immense material endowments—marriage alliances accompanied by escalating gifts (brides, elephants, chariots). In the ethical frame of Śānti Parva, such descriptions can serve as a contrast to inner restraint and the limits of worldly display.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu narrates a scene of extraordinary royal arrangements: each prince receives a separate group of a hundred brides, each bride is accompanied by a hundred elephants, and each elephant is followed by a hundred chariots—depicting an immense procession of wealth and military resources.