Shloka 12
Kurukṣetra-sainyadarśana and Arjuna-viṣāda (धर्मक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः — अर्जुनविषाद)
स्वाहाकार: स्वधा चैव कला काष्ठा सरस्वती । सावित्रि वेदमाता च तथा वेदान्त उच्यते,सावित्रि! स्वाहा, स्वथा, कला, काष्ठा, सरस्वती, वेदमाता तथा वेदान्त--ये सब तुम्हारे ही नाम हैं
arjuna uvāca | svāhākāraḥ svadhā caiva kalā kāṣṭhā sarasvatī | sāvitrī vedamātā ca tathā vedānta ucyate ||
阿周那说道：“人们以‘娑婆诃’（Svāhā）与‘娑陀诃’（Svadhā）来呼唤你；你是时间的分段——迦罗（kalā）与迦湿吒（kāṣṭhā）；你是辩才天女萨拉斯瓦蒂（Sarasvatī）；你是萨维特丽（Sāvitrī），吠陀之母；你亦被称为‘吠檀多’（Vedānta）。这些受敬奉的名号与神用，皆归于你。”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a devotional identification of the addressed divinity with multiple sacred functions—ritual invocation (svāhā), ancestral offering (svadhā), measures of time (kalā, kāṣṭhā), sacred speech and learning (Sarasvatī), the Gāyatrī/Sāvitrī as ‘Mother of the Vedas,’ and the culminating wisdom of the Veda (Vedānta). Ethically, it frames reverence as recognizing the divine presence across ritual, knowledge, and the ordering of time.
In Bhīṣma Parva, amid the larger Kurukṣetra setting, Arjuna speaks in praise, listing honorific names and roles of the deity being addressed, affirming that diverse Vedic and philosophical designations ultimately refer to the same supreme sacred reality.