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

毗湿摩说道：礼敬大天摩诃提婆——在般遮罗与白山之上受人供奉者，恒住于吉祥的寂静之中；礼敬彼者，其钟铃般的回响令敌对之众惊惧，而彼自身亦可被听见：既是钟声本身，也是那不待敲击而自鸣的内在震动（阿那哈塔，anāhata）。

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.