Shloka 363

Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā

Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties

Devanagari script

उद्धिज्जानि च तान्याहुर्भूतानि द्विजसत्तमा: । द्विजवरो! जो पृथ्वीको फोड़कर समयपर उत्पन्न होते हैं, उन प्राणियोंको उद्धिज्ज कहते हैं

Transliteration

udbhijjāni ca tāny āhur bhūtāni dvijasattamāḥ |

Translation

Vāyu-deva sprach: „O Bester unter den Zweimalgeborenen! Die Weisen erklären: Jene Lebewesen, die zur rechten Zeit die Erde aufbrechen und hervortreten, heißen ‘udbhijja’ (sprossgeboren).“

Word by Word

• उद्भिज्जानि: sprouting-born beings (plants etc.)
• उद्भिज्जानि: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: उद्भिज्ज (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Plural

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

• तानि: those
• तानि: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Plural

• आहुः: they call / they say
• Type: Verb
• Root: अह् (धातु)
• Form: Present, Third, Plural, Parasmaipada

• भूतानि: beings, creatures
• भूतानि: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Plural

• द्विजसत्तमाः: the best of the twice-born (Brahmins)
• द्विजसत्तमाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्विजसत्तम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• वायुदेव (Vāyu-deva)
• द्विजसत्तमाः (learned twice-born sages)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches a traditional dharmic-cosmological classification of life: some beings are ‘udbhijja’, defined as those that emerge by splitting the earth at the appropriate season—highlighting an ordered, time-bound natural law (ṛta) recognized by sages.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva is instructing a twice-born interlocutor in a didactic passage, explaining the category ‘udbhijja’ among types of living beings, using the sages’ authoritative definition.