Shloka 10
मेरोर्दिग्वर्णनम् / Digvarṇana of Meru: Uttara-Kuru, Bhadrāśva, and Jambūdvīpa Motifs
तत्र स्वयंप्रभा देवी नित्यं वसति शाण्डिली । उत्तरेण तु शृड्गस्य समुद्रान्ते जनाधिप,वहाँ स्वयंप्रभा नामवाली शाण्डिली देवी नित्य निवास करती हैं। जनेश्वर! शृंगवान् पर्वतके उत्तर समुद्रके निकट ऐरावत नामक वर्ष है। अतः इन शिखरोंसे संयुक्त यह वर्ष अन्य वर्षोकी अपेक्षा उत्तम है। वहाँ सूर्यदेव ताप नहीं देते हैं और न वहाँके मनुष्य बूढ़े ही होते हैं
tatra svayaṃprabhā devī nityaṃ vasati śāṇḍilī | uttareṇa tu śṛṅgasya samudrānte janādhipa |
Sañjaya said: “There, the goddess Śāṇḍilī, known as Svayaṃprabhā (‘Self-luminous’), dwells perpetually. And to the north of that peak, O lord of men, at the ocean’s edge, lies a region (varṣa) renowned in this account.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes a worldview where certain regions are sanctified by continuous divine presence; sacred geography is presented as a source of order, auspiciousness, and reverence within the epic’s cosmological imagination.
Sañjaya is describing a particular locale: a goddess named Śāṇḍilī, called Svayaṃprabhā, dwells there eternally, and he locates the place further by noting it lies north of a peak and near the ocean’s shore, as part of a broader geographical/cosmological description.