Shloka 35

Devanagari script

शकक्‍्यन्ते परिसंख्यातुं पुण्यास्ता हि सरिद्वरा: । तव पुण्या जनपदाश्षत्वारो लोकसम्मता:,वहाँ लाखों ऐसी नदियाँ हैं, जिनसे जल लेकर इन्द्र वर्षा करते हैं। उनके नाम और परिमाणकी संख्या बताना कठिन ही नहीं, असम्भव है। वे सभी श्रेष्ठ नदियाँ परम पुण्यमयी हैं। उस द्वीपमें लोकसम्मानित चार पवित्र जनपद हैं

Transliteration

śakyante parisaṅkhyātuṃ puṇyāstā hi saridvarāḥ | tava puṇyā janapadāś catvāro lokasammatāḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: Those supremely sacred rivers cannot truly be counted; to enumerate them is beyond measure. In that island-region there are also four holy provinces, renowned and honored by the world—lands made meritorious by their waters and by the righteous life associated with them.

Word by Word

• {'śakyante': 'are possible (to be done)

• can be', 'parisaṅkhyātum': 'to count completely

• to enumerate', 'puṇyāḥ': 'holy, meritorious, sacred', 'tāḥ': 'those', 'hi': 'indeed, certainly', 'sarid-varāḥ': 'the best of rivers

• excellent rivers', 'tava': 'your (addressed to Dhṛtarāṣṭra)', 'janapadāḥ': 'countries, provinces, territories', 'catvāraḥ': 'four', 'loka-sammatāḥ': 'approved by the world

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'tava')
• sarid (rivers)
• janapada (provinces/territories)
• dvīpa (island/continent; implied by context)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes the immeasurable abundance of sacred sources of merit—especially rivers and holy regions—suggesting that dharmic value is not confined to a single place but is vast, revered, and beyond easy enumeration.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya continues a descriptive account of a sacred island/region, telling Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the holy rivers there are too numerous to count and that the area contains four world-honored, sacred provinces.