Shloka 15
Bhārata-varṣa-varṇana
Description of Bhārata: Mountains, Rivers, and Janapadas
संक्षेपो वर्तते राजन् द्वापरेडस्मिन् नराधिप । गुणोत्तरं हैमवतं हरिवर्ष तत: परम्,नरेश्वर! इस द्वापरमें भी गुणोंकी न्यूनता होती है। भारतवर्षकी अपेक्षा हैमवत तथा हरिवर्षमें उत्तरोत्तर अधिक गुण हैं
saṅkṣepo vartate rājan dvāpare ’smin narādhipa | guṇottaraṃ haimavataṃ harivarṣa tataḥ param, nareśvara ||
Sañjaya said: O King, lord of men, in this Dvāpara age there is a general decline—a shortening and diminution of qualities. Compared with Bhārata-varṣa, the Himālayan region (Haimavata) and then Harivarṣa beyond it possess progressively higher excellence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights yuga-based moral contraction: in Dvāpara there is a general diminution of human excellence, and it frames virtue as varying by region, with certain lands described as possessing progressively higher qualities than Bhārata-varṣa.
Sañjaya addresses the king and, in the course of describing the world-order and conditions of the age, remarks that Dvāpara is marked by decline and then compares the relative excellence of regions—Bhārata-varṣa, the Himālayan tract (Haimavata), and Harivarṣa beyond.