Shloka 61

Devanagari script

यस्य केशेषु जीमूता नद्यः सर्वाड्गसंधिषु । कुक्षौ समुद्राश्चत्वारस्तस्मै तोयात्मने नम:,जिनके मस्तकके बालोंकी जगह मेघ हैं, शरीरकी सन्धियोंमें नदियाँ हैं और उदरमें चारों समुद्र हैं, उन जलरूपी परमात्माको प्रणाम है

Transliteration

yasya keśeṣu jīmūtā nadyaḥ sarvāṅga-sandhiṣu | kukṣau samudrāś catvāras tasmai toyātmane namaḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma sprach: „Verehrung dem höchsten Wesen, dessen Natur Wasser ist: Sein Haar wird als Wolken gedacht, in den Gelenken seines Leibes fließen die Flüsse, und in seinem Bauch wohnen die vier großen Meere. Durch dieses Bild lehrt der Hymnus Ehrfurcht vor der kosmischen Ordnung, die vom Wasser getragen wird — dem lebensspendenden Element, das die Welt zusammenbindet; darum verdient es Verehrung und fordert Maßhaltung im menschlichen Tun.“

Word by Word

यस्यwhose

केशेषुin (his) hairs

जीमूताःclouds

नद्यःrivers

सर्वाङ्गसन्धिषुin all the joints of the body

कुक्षौin (his) belly

समुद्राःoceans

चत्वारःfour

तस्मैto him

तोयात्मनेto the water-natured (one)

नमःsalutation

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Toyātmā (the water-essenced Supreme Being)

Clouds (jīmūta)

Rivers (nadī)

Four oceans (catvāraḥ samudrāḥ)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse presents water as a cosmic principle worthy of worship: clouds, rivers, and oceans are envisioned as parts of the Divine body. Ethically, it implies gratitude, restraint, and dharmic care toward life-sustaining natural forces, especially water, which upholds the world’s order.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and related disciplines. Here he utters a reverential salutation in the form of a cosmological image, praising the water-essenced Supreme Being by mapping the hydrological world (clouds, rivers, oceans) onto the Divine body.