Shloka 10
Adhyāya 6: Pañca-mahābhūta–guṇa-nirdeśa and Sudarśana-dvīpa
Five Elements, Sensory Qualities, and a Cosmographic Island
परिमण्डलस्तयोर्मध्ये मेरः कनकपर्वत: । आदित्यतरुणाभासो विधूम इव पावक:,इन दोनोंके बीचमें मण्डलाकार सुवर्णमय मेरुपर्वत है, जो प्रातः:कालके सूर्यके समान प्रकाशमान तथा धूमरहित अग्निके समान कान्तिमान् है
parimaṇḍalas tayor madhye meraḥ kanakaparvataḥ | ādityataruṇābhāso vidhūma iva pāvakaḥ ||
Sañjaya sprach: „Zwischen jenen beiden erhob sich der Berg Meru, ein kreisrunder, goldener Berg—strahlend wie die junge Morgensonne und glänzend wie ein rauchloses Feuer.“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses Meru’s smokeless, sunlike radiance to suggest purity, stability, and cosmic order—an implicit contrast to the coming disorder of war, reminding readers that dharma is measured against an enduring moral-cosmic standard.
Sañjaya is describing a grand, cosmic-geographical scene: between two reference points stands Mount Meru, portrayed as a circular, golden mountain shining like the morning sun and like a smokeless fire.