Shloka 4

Jvarotpatti — The Origin and Distribution of Jvara

Fever

Devanagari script

असित उवाच येभ्य: सृजति भूतानि काले भावप्रचोदित: । महाभूतानि पज्चेति तान्याहुर्भूतचिन्तका:,असितदेवलने कहा--देवर्षे! सृष्टिके समय परमात्मा प्राणियोंकी वासनाओंसे प्रेरित हो समयपर जिन तत्त्वोंसे सम्पूर्ण भूतोंकी सृष्टि करते हैं, उन्हें भूतचिन्तक (भौतिक विज्ञानवादी) विद्वान पंचमहाभूत कहते हैं

Transliteration

asita uvāca | yebhyaḥ sṛjati bhūtāni kāle bhāvapracoditaḥ | mahābhūtāni pañceti tāny āhur bhūtacintakāḥ ||

Translation

Asita said: “At the time of creation, the Supreme—impelled by the latent dispositions (bhāvas) of living beings—brings forth all creatures from certain fundamental principles. Those who reflect on the nature of matter call these principles the ‘five great elements’ (pañca-mahābhūtas).”

Word by Word

• {'asita uvāca': 'Asita said', 'yebhyaḥ': 'from which

• from those (principles)', 'sṛjati': 'creates

• brings forth', 'bhūtāni': 'beings

• created entities', 'kāle': 'at the time (especially the time of creation)

• in due time', 'bhāva-pracoditaḥ': 'impelled by dispositions/latent tendencies

• prompted by inner states (often understood as vāsanās/saṃskāras)', 'mahābhūtāni': 'the great elements (classically: earth, water, fire, wind, space)', 'pañca': 'five', 'iti': 'thus

• as', 'tāni': 'those (principles/elements)', 'āhuḥ': 'they say

• they call', 'bhūta-cintakāḥ': 'thinkers/inquirers into the elements

Speaker

असित उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Asita
• pañca mahābhūtāni (five great elements)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Creation is described as proceeding through fundamental material principles—the five great elements—while the process is also linked to the latent dispositions (bhāvas/vāsanās) of beings, indicating a moral-psychological dimension to cosmology.

What is happening in the narrative?

Asita is explaining to a sage interlocutor a philosophical account of how beings arise at the time of creation, identifying the foundational constituents that thinkers call the five mahābhūtas.