Chapter 34 — Rajkumar and Mantrikumar Devotees of Shri Shiva

Literal. Parashar continues: Sudharma (the prince) and Tarak (minister's son) are Dnyani (knowing) and devotees of Shiva due to their previous-life training. The king asks their future. Parashar reveals: the prince will die on the eighth day. To save him, the king must have 10,000 Rudra-Abhishekas performed on Shri Shiva. The king does. On the eighth day, the prince falls senseless; abhishek tirth is sprinkled; akshat (rice) of Rudra is thrown; the Yamadoot cannot approach. Shivadoots fight off Yamadoots. Naradmuni intervenes; Yama, checking with Chitragupta (the record-keeper), finds the prince's life had been initially set at 12 years but then granted ten thousand additional years by virtue of the Rudra-recitation. The death is averted.

Symbolic. Death-aversion through prescribed quantitative ritual. Ten thousand abhisheks correspond to ten thousand additional years — a quantitative trade explicit in the source.

Structural. 10,000 Rudra-abhishekas → 10,000 additional years. Eight days as the warning window.