Shloka 76

मेरोर्दिग्वर्णनम् / Digvarṇana of Meru: Uttara-Kuru, Bhadrāśva, and Jambūdvīpa Motifs

Devanagari script

आयु:प्रमाणं जीवन्ति शतानि दश पञ्च च । जनेश्वर! वहाँके लोग साढ़े बारह हजार वर्षोंकी आयुतक जीवित रहते हैं

Transliteration

āyuḥpramāṇaṃ jīvanti śatāni daśa pañca ca | janeśvara! tatra te lokāḥ sārdha-dvādaśa-sahasra-varṣāṇām āyutak jīvanti ||

Translation

قال سَنْجَيا: «يا سيّدَ الناس، إنّ أعمارَهم محدَّدة: يعيشون ألفًا وخمسمائة سنة (أي خمسةَ عشرَ قرنًا). وهناك يبلغ أولئك القومُ من العمر اثني عشرَ ألفًا وخمسمائة سنة».

Word by Word

• आयुः: lifespan
• आयुः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: आयुस्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• प्रमाणम्: measure, extent
• प्रमाणम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रमाण
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• जीवन्ति: they live
• Type: Verb
• Root: जीव्
• Form: Present (Lat), Third, Plural, Parasmaipada

• शतानि: hundreds
• शतानि: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शत
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Plural

• दश: ten
• दश: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: दश
• Form: —, —, —

• पञ्च: five
• पञ्च: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पञ्च
• Form: —, —, —

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• जनेश्वर: O lord of men
• Type: Noun
• Root: जन-ईश्वर
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• janeśvara (the king addressed, i.e., Dhṛtarāṣṭra)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the idea of a divinely or naturally fixed measure of life (āyuḥpramāṇa), emphasizing that different realms or peoples may have vastly different lifespans, underscoring the Mahābhārata’s broader reflection on time, mortality, and the limits set upon embodied beings.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya continues his report to the king (addressed as janeśvara, understood as Dhṛtarāṣṭra), describing the extraordinary longevity of certain inhabitants ‘there’—a detail within a larger descriptive passage in Bhīṣma Parva, chapter 8.