Svargarohana Parva Adhyaya 5 Shloka 55 - Mahabharata | German | Vedapath

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Shloka 55

Svargārohaṇa-parva Adhyāya 5 — Karmaphala-Nirdeśa and Phalāśruti (कर्मफलनिर्देशः फलश्रुतिश्च)

Devanagari script

पित्रये पज्चदशं ज्ञेयं यक्षलोके चतुर्दश । एकं शतसहसंर तु मानुषेषु प्रभाषितम्‌

Transliteration

pitrye pañcadaśaṃ jñeyaṃ yakṣaloke caturdaśa | ekaṃ śatasahasraṃ tu mānuṣeṣu prabhāṣitam |

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Wisset: Im Reich der Pitṛs (Ahnen) sind es fünfzehn (Lakhs), in der Welt der Yakṣas vierzehn (Lakhs); unter den Menschen aber wird es als hunderttausend (Verse) rezitiert.“

Word by Word

पित्र्येin the world of the Pitṛs (Pitṛloka)

पञ्चदशम्fifteen (lakhs) / the fifteenth measure

ज्ञेयम्is to be known

यक्षलोकेin the Yakṣa-world (Yakṣaloka)

चतुर्दशfourteen (lakhs)

एकम्one

शतसहस्रम्a hundred thousand

तुbut/indeed

मानुषेषुamong humans

प्रभाषितम्was recited/proclaimed

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Pitṛloka (realm of the ancestors)

Yakṣaloka (realm of the Yakṣas)

human world (mānuṣa-loka)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the epic’s sacred magnitude and layered transmission: different realms preserve larger recensions, while humans receive a condensed, recitable form. Ethically, it highlights stewardship—humans must faithfully preserve and learn the accessible version that carries dharma-teachings.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana is describing the traditional distribution of the Mahābhārata’s verse-count across realms: fifteen lakhs in the Pitṛ-world, fourteen lakhs in the Yakṣa-world, and one hundred thousand verses as the human recension that is publicly recited.