सहस्रशीर्षः पर्वताभोगवर्ष्मा; रक्ताननः स्वां तनुं तां विमुच्य ॥
सम्यक् च तं सागरः प्रत्यगृह्णान्; नागा दिव्याः सरितश् चैव पुण्याः ॥
कर्कोटको वासुकिस् तक्षकश् च; पृथुश्रवा वरुणः कुञ्जरश् च ॥
मिश्री शङ्खः कुमुदः पुण्डरीकस्; तथा नागो धृतराष्ट्रो महात्मा ॥
ह्रादः क्राथः शितिकण्ठो ऽग्रतेजास्; तथा नागौ चक्रमन्दातिषण्डौ ॥
नागश्रेष्ठो दुर्मुखश् चाम्बरीषः; स्वयं राजा वरुणश् चापि राजन् ॥
प्रत्युद्गम्य स्वागतेनाभ्यनन्दंस्; ते ऽपूजयंश् चार्घ्यपाद्यक्रियाभिः ॥
sahasraśīrṣaḥ parvatābhogavarṣmā; raktānanaḥ svāṃ tanuṃ tāṃ vimucya ||
samyak ca taṃ sāgaraḥ pratyagṛhṇān; nāgā divyāḥ saritaś caiva puṇyāḥ ||
karkoṭako vāsukis takṣakaś ca; pṛthuśravā varuṇaḥ kuñjaraś ca ||
miśrī śaṅkhaḥ kumudaḥ puṇḍarīkas; tathā nāgo dhṛtarāṣṭro mahātmā ||
hrādaḥ krāthaḥ śitikaṇṭho 'gratejās; tathā nāgau cakramandātiṣaṇḍau ||
nāgaśreṣṭho durmukhaś cāmbarīṣaḥ; svayaṃ rājā varuṇaś cāpi rājan ||
pratyudgamya svāgatenābhyanandaṃs; te 'pūjayaṃś cārghyapādyakriyābhiḥ ||
Thousand-headed, with a body like the mass of a mountain, red-faced, having shed that form of his — the ocean duly received him, as did the divine serpents and sacred rivers. Karkotaka, Vasuki and Takshaka; Prithushravas, Varuna and Kunjara; Mishri, Shankha, Kumuda, Pundarika; the naga Dhritarashtra of great spirit; Hrada, Kratha, fierce Shitikantha; the two nagas Chakramanda and Atishanda; the foremost of nagas, Durmukha and Ambarisha; and king Varuna himself, O king — all came forth to meet him, welcomed him with honor, and worshipped him with the rites of arghya and padya.
19842872c703 · published Jun 21, 2026, 1:20:00 AM UTC
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The ocean and the divine serpents come forth to meet Shesha as subjects before their sovereign: the thousand-headed lord of the nagas returns to his native element, received with the honors of arghya and padya. This reveals that the departure of the great is not a fall into nonexistence but a triumphant return to one's own, to one's primordial place and station. Death for one who has descended from above is a gateway into glory, not into darkness. The verse teaches that the departure of a divine being from the world is met with rejoicing in higher realms, for it returns to its true being and dignity; and that what appears as the disappearance of a holy one from earth is, in another world, his glorious manifestation, greeted with honor — and therefore the grief of earth at his loss is transformed into the joy of heaven.