Shloka 8
Bhārata-varṣa-varṇana
Description of Bhārata: Mountains, Rivers, and Janapadas
महाबला महासत्त्वा: प्रज्ञागुणसमन्विता: । प्रजायन्ते च जाताश्न शतशोडथ सहस्रश:
mahābalā mahāsattvāḥ prajñā-guṇa-samanvitāḥ | prajāyante ca jātāś ca śataśo ’tha sahasraśaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “In that age, people are born endowed with great strength and noble vitality, enriched with wisdom and virtues; and once born, they beget offspring in hundreds and even in thousands. It is a time marked by abundance of merit, when ascetic wealth and spiritual power are common, and great seers are frequently born.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts ages by highlighting that in a righteous era (implicitly Satya-yuga), human beings naturally manifest sattva—strength, wisdom, and virtue—and society becomes fertile in both progeny and spiritual attainment, with tapas and seerhood arising commonly.
Sañjaya is describing characteristics of an earlier, more dharmic age: people are born with exceptional strength and noble qualities and produce large lineages; the broader implication is a yuga-based moral decline/contrast relevant to the present war-torn time.