Shloka 62

अनुक्रमणिकाध्यायः (Anukramaṇikā Adhyāya) — Invocation, Narrator Frame, and Textual Scope

Devanagari script

ब्रह्मन्‌ वेदरहस्यं च यच्चान्यत्‌ स्थापितं मया । साज़्रोपनिषदां चैव वेदानां विस्तरक्रिया,ब्रह्मन! मैंने इस महाकाव्यमें सम्पूर्ण वेदोंका गुप्ततम रहस्य तथा अन्य सब शास्त्रोंका सार-सार संकलित करके स्थापित कर दिया है। केवल वेदोंका ही नहीं, उनके अंग एवं उपनिषदोंका भी इसमें विस्तारसे निरूपण किया है

Transliteration

brahman vedarahasyaṃ ca yac cānyat sthāpitaṃ mayā | sāṅgopaniṣadāṃ caiva vedānāṃ vistarākriyā ||

Translation

O Brahmin, I have here set down the most secret essence of the Vedas, along with whatever else I have established as the distilled substance of the other śāstras. Not only the Vedas, but their ancillary disciplines and the Upaniṣads too have been expounded here in full detail.

Word by Word

• {'brahman': 'O Brahmin

• a respectful address to a learned priest/sage', 'veda-rahasyam': 'the secret/mystical essence of the Veda', 'ca': 'and', 'yat': 'whatever

• that which', 'anyat': 'other (besides that)', 'sthāpitam': 'set down, established, composed, fixed in place', 'mayā': 'by me', 'sāṅga': 'together with the limbs/ancillaries (vedāṅgas)', 'upaniṣadām': 'of the Upaniṣads', 'caiva': 'and indeed

• and also', 'vedānām': 'of the Vedas', 'vistara-kriyā': 'detailed exposition/expansive treatment (lit. ‘the act of elaboration’)'}

Characters & Entities

• Brahmin (addressed interlocutor)
• Vedas
• Upaniṣads
• Vedāṅgas (ancillary disciplines of the Veda)
• Śāstras (other authoritative teachings)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse asserts the Mahābhārata’s self-understanding as a comprehensive repository of sacred knowledge: it claims to preserve the Vedas’ deepest purport (rahasya) and to present, in an accessible narrative form, the essence of many śāstras, including the Upaniṣadic vision and the Vedic auxiliaries—thereby framing the epic as a vehicle for dharma and wisdom.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the opening frame of the Ādi Parva, the speaker is describing the scope and authority of the Mahābhārata to a learned Brahmin audience, emphasizing that the work is not merely a story but an expansive exposition that incorporates Vedic, Upaniṣadic, and śāstric teachings.