Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 9
बदरपाचन-तीर्थमाहात्म्यम् | Badarapācana Tīrtha Māhātmya
Indratīrtha and the Austerities of Srucāvatī & Arundhatī
“देव! मकरालय समुद्रमें आपका सदा निवासस्थान होगा और यह नदीपति समुद्र सदा आपके वशरमें रहेगा। चन्द्रमाके साथ आपकी भी हानि और वृद्धि होगी” ।।
evaṁ astv iti tān devān varuṇo vākyam abravīt | samāgamya tataḥ sarve varuṇaṁ sāgarālayam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “So be it.” Thus Varuṇa replied to those gods. Thereafter they all approached Varuṇa, whose abode is the ocean. The passage affirms a divinely ordered governance of the sea: the ocean is established as Varuṇa’s perpetual dwelling and remains under his control, and his waxing and waning are linked with the Moon—an ethical reminder that cosmic order (ṛta) is maintained through rightful stewardship rather than force.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores that the natural world is not chaotic but governed by rightful authority: Varuṇa’s control over the ocean symbolizes maintenance of cosmic order (ṛta). Ethical power is framed as stewardship—holding and regulating a domain according to ordained duty rather than arbitrary domination.
Varuṇa assents—“So be it”—to what the gods have declared, and then all the gods approach Varuṇa in his oceanic abode. The surrounding context (as reflected in the cited prose) links Varuṇa’s domain and cycles to the moon, presenting a mythic explanation for the sea’s governance and periodic changes.
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