Shloka 9

समुद्रवर्णनम् (Description of the Ocean) — Kadrū and Vinatā approach the sea

Devanagari script

ततो वैरविनिर्बन्ध: कृतो राहुमुखेन वै । शाश्वतश्रन्द्रसूर्या भ्यां ग्रसत्यद्यापि चैव तौ,तभीसे राहुके मुखने चन्द्रमा और सूर्यके साथ भारी एवं स्थायी वैर बाँध लिया; इसीलिये वह आज भी दोनोंपर ग्रहण लगाता है

Transliteration

tato vairavinirbandhaḥ kṛto rāhumukhena vai | śāśvataś candrasūryābhyāṃ grasaty adyāpi caiva tau ||

Translation

Daraufhin schmiedete Rāhu mit seinem eigenen Mund eine wilde und dauerhafte Feindschaft gegen Mond und Sonne; und deshalb packt er beide noch heute—so entstehen die Finsternisse.

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

वैर-विनिर्बन्धःa binding/formation of enmity

कृतःmade, done

राहु-मुखेनby/with Rahu's mouth

वैindeed, surely

शाश्वत-चन्द्र-सूर्याभ्याम्with the eternal Moon and Sun (i.e., against them)

ग्रसतिswallows, devours (eclipses)

अद्यापिeven today, still

चand

एवindeed, just

तौthose two (Moon and Sun)

Speaker

शौनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

Rāhu

Candra (Moon)

Sūrya (Sun)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how deliberately cultivated enmity (vaira-vinirbandha) can become enduring and repeatedly destructive; ethically, it cautions against fixing one’s identity around hatred, since its consequences can persist and recur.

What is happening in the narrative?

Śaunaka explains that Rāhu established a lasting feud with the Moon and the Sun and therefore continues to seize them even now—an etiological explanation for eclipses (grahaṇa) in the epic’s mythic framework.