Shloka 16
बक-गौतमाख्यानम् / The Baka–Gautama Account
On Gratitude and Friendship Ethics
मरीचिमृषिमत्रिं च पुलस्त्यं पुलहं क्रतुम् वसिष्ठाड़िरसौ चोभौ रुद्रं च प्रभुमी श्वरम्
bhīṣma uvāca | marīcim ṛṣim atriṃ ca pulastyaṃ pulahaṃ kratum | vasiṣṭham āṅgirasaṃ cobhau rudraṃ ca prabhum īśvaram | tad-anantaram bhagavān brahmā laukika-śarīraṃ dhārayitvā munivara-marīciṃ atriṃ pulastyaṃ pulahaṃ kratuṃ vasiṣṭham āṅgirasaṃ tathā svabhāva-aiśvarya-sampannaṃ rudraṃ—imān tejasvinaḥ putrān utpādayāmāsa ||
Bhīṣma said: “Thereafter the Blessed Brahmā, assuming a worldly form, brought forth as his radiant sons the great seers Marīci, Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasiṣṭha, and Aṅgiras, and also Rudra—the mighty Lord, endowed by nature with sovereign power.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents creation as an ordered emergence of spiritual authorities—great ṛṣis and Rudra—implying that dharma in the world rests on a divinely instituted lineage of wisdom (sages) and governance (īśvara/prabhu).
Bhīṣma recounts a cosmogonic sequence: Brahmā assumes a manifest body and generates luminous sons—named sages and Rudra—thereby populating the world with foundational teachers and a powerful divine principle.