Shloka 17
दान-धर्म-आश्रमविधानम्
Dana, Dharma, and the Four Āśramas
रसानां सर्वगन्धानां स्नेहानां प्राणिनां तथा । भूमियोनिरिह ज्ञेया यस्यां सर्व प्रसूयते,“इस पृथ्वीको सम्पूर्ण रसों, गन्धों, स्नेहों तथा प्राणियोंका कारण समझना चाहिये। इसीसे सबकी उत्पत्ति होती है”
rasānāṁ sarvagandhānāṁ snehānāṁ prāṇināṁ tathā | bhūmiyonir iha jñeyā yasyāṁ sarvaṁ prasūyate ||
Bharadvāja said: “This Earth should be understood here as the womb and source of all tastes, all fragrances, all unctuous substances, and of living beings as well; for from her everything is brought forth.”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
Earth is presented as the generative source (yoni) from which sensory qualities like taste and smell, material unctuousness, and living beings arise—encouraging a dharmic view of nature as foundational and worthy of respect.
In a didactic discourse of the Śānti Parva, the sage Bharadvāja explains a cosmological principle: the Earth functions as the matrix that produces and supports the world’s substances and life.