Shloka 3
Bhārata-varṣa-varṇana
Description of Bhārata: Mountains, Rivers, and Janapadas
संजय उवाच चत्वारि भारते वर्षे युगानि भरतर्षभ । कृतं त्रेता द्वापरं च तिष्यं च कुरुवर्धन,संजयने कहा--कुरुकुलकी वृद्धि करनेवाले भरतश्रेष्ठ) भारतवर्षमें चार युग होते हैं-- सत्ययुग, त्रेता, द्वापर और कलियुग
sañjaya uvāca | catvāri bhārate varṣe yugāni bharatarṣabha | kṛtaṃ tretā dvāparaṃ ca tiṣyaṃ ca kuruvardhana ||
Sañjaya sprach: „O Stier unter den Bhāratas, o Mehrer des Kuru-Geschlechts: In Bhārata-varṣa gibt es vier Yugas—Kṛta (Satya), Tretā, Dvāpara und Tiṣya (Kali).“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames human history within a moral-cosmic cycle of four yugas, implying that dharma and social order are understood against the backdrop of time’s gradual transformation (often conceived as decline from Kṛta to Kali).
Sanjaya addresses a Bharata/Kuru elder with honorific epithets and begins a description of the yuga system in Bhārata-varṣa, listing the four ages by name, including Tiṣya as a designation for Kali.