Mahabharata — Vana Parva, Shloka 32
Arjuna meets the Lokapālas, is tested by Indra, and is led to Amarāvatī for astra-śikṣā
Indraloka-gamana
स मासान् विभजन् काले बहुथधा पर्वसंधिषु । तथैव भगवान् सोमो नक्षत्र: सह गच्छति
sa māsān vibhajan kāle bahudhā parva-sandhiṣu | tathaiva bhagavān somo nakṣatraiḥ saha gacchati ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: «So werden im rechten Lauf der Zeit an den Übergängen der Jahreszeiten die Monate auf vielerlei Weise eingeteilt. Ebenso bewegt sich der göttliche Soma, der Mond, zusammen mit den Sternbildern, vollzieht seinen Umlauf um Meru und kennzeichnet dadurch die Einteilungen der Monate.»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights ṛta/dharma as cosmic regularity: time is not arbitrary but structured through observable celestial motions, especially the Moon’s progress with the nakṣatras, which underwrites the calendrical division of months and seasonal transitions.
Vaiśampāyana describes how months and seasonal junctures are determined, explaining that the Moon, moving in concert with the constellations (nakṣatras), serves as the celestial marker by which the divisions of time are recognized.