Shloka 18
तस्मिन प्रवृत्ते सत्रे तु ब्रह्मण: पार्थिवर्षभ । दृष्टरूपप्रधानत्वाद् दण्ड: सो<न्तर्हितो$भवत्,नृपश्रेष्ठ! ब्रह्माजीका वह यज्ञ आरम्भ होते ही वहाँ प्रत्यक्ष दीखनेवाले यज्ञकी प्रधानता होनेसे ब्रह्माका वह दण्ड अन्तर्धान हो गया
tasmin pravṛtte satre tu brahmaṇaḥ pārthivarṣabha | dṛṣṭarūpapradhānatvād daṇḍaḥ so 'ntarhito 'bhavat ||
Vasuharoma said: “O bull among kings, when that sacrificial session set in motion by Brahmā had begun, Brahmā’s staff disappeared. For, once the sacrifice became chiefly governed by what was directly manifest and visible, that emblem of punitive authority was no longer in evidence.”
वसुहरोम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the disappearance of Brahmā’s daṇḍa (rod of punishment/authority) to suggest that when a sacred undertaking is governed by manifest, properly ordered ritual action, coercive enforcement recedes; visible, disciplined performance itself sustains order.
As Brahmā’s satra begins, the narrative notes a symbolic change: Brahmā’s staff vanishes, explained as a result of the sacrifice’s predominance of directly visible, manifest ritual form and procedure.