Shloka 13
Āścarya-kathana: Brāhmaṇa–Nāga Dialogue on Sūrya (Vivasvat) and the ‘Second Sun’ Phenomenon
यदासीन्मानसं जन्म नारायणमुखोद्गतम् | ब्रह्मण: पृथिवीपाल तदा नारायण: स्वयम्,भूपाल! सृष्टिके आदिमें जब भगवान् नारायणके मुखसे ब्रह्माजीका मानसिक जन्म हुआ था, उस समय साक्षात् नारायणने उन्हें इस धर्मका उपदेश किया था। भरतनन्दन! नारायणने उस धर्मसे देवताओं और पितरोंका पूजनादि कर्म किया था। फिर फेनप ऋषियोंने उस धर्मको ग्रहण किया
yad āsīn mānasaṃ janma nārāyaṇa-mukhodgatam | brahmaṇaḥ pṛthivīpāla tadā nārāyaṇaḥ svayam ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana sprach: „O König, als zu Beginn der Schöpfung Brahmās erste, geistgeborene Hervorbringung entstand und aus dem eigenen Mund Nārāyaṇas hervortrat, da unterwies Nārāyaṇa selbst ihn in diesem Dharma. Durch eben diesen Dharma vollzog Nārāyaṇa die Riten der Verehrung für die Götter und die Ahnen; danach nahmen die Weisen, die man Phenapas nennt, diesen Dharma an und bewahrten ihn.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is presented as primordial and authoritative: it originates with Nārāyaṇa, is taught to Brahmā at creation’s beginning, and is validated through practice—worship of gods and ancestors—before being received by later sages. The verse frames righteous ritual and ethical order as rooted in the divine source and transmitted through lineage.
Vaiśaṃpāyana recounts an origin-story: at the first emergence of Brahmā’s mind-born creation from Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa instructs Brahmā in a specific Dharma. Nārāyaṇa then exemplifies it by performing deva- and pitṛ-worship, and the Phenapa sages later adopt that same Dharma, showing its continuity across cosmic and human time.