Shloka 134
Pitṛ-śrāddha-haviḥ-phala-nirdeśa
Offerings for Ancestors and Their Stated Results
अष्टौ कविसुता होते सर्वमेभिर्जगत् ततम् । प्रजापतय एते हि प्रजाभागैरिह प्रजा:
aṣṭau kavisutā hote sarvam ebhir jagat tatam | prajāpātaya ete hi prajābhāgair iha prajāḥ ||
Vasiṣṭha sprach: „Es gibt acht Söhne des Kavi; durch sie ist diese ganze Welt durchdrungen. Wahrlich, diese acht sind Prajāpatis, und weil sie hier an den Bestandteilen und Funktionen der Nachkommenschaft teilhaben, werden sie selbst auch ‚prajā‘ (die Geschöpfe/das Volk) genannt.“
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links cosmic order to progenitor figures: the world is sustained and ‘pervaded’ through specific creative lineages (Prajāpatis). It also highlights a conceptual overlap—those who generate and govern progeny are called Prajāpatis, yet because they embody the very ‘shares’ or constituents of prajā, they can also be termed prajā, stressing interdependence between ruler/creator and the created.
Vasiṣṭha is explaining a genealogical-cosmological point: he identifies eight sons of Kavi and states that they function as Prajāpatis whose agency spreads throughout the world, accounting for the propagation and organization of living beings (prajā) within the cosmic scheme.