Shloka 24
Śukasya Janma-yoga-phalaṁ — Vyāsasya Tapasā Putrārthaḥ (Śānti-parva 310)
तिर्यकुस्रोतस्त्वध:स््रोत उत्पद्यति नराधिप । नवमं सर्गमित्याहुरेतदार्जवकं बुधा:,राजन! तत्पश्चात् जिसका प्रवाह तिरछा चलता है, वे व्यान और उदान अपान वायुके साथ निम्नभागमें प्रकट हुए। इसे नवम सर्ग कहते हैं। इसे भी विद्वान् पुरुष आर्जवक सृष्टिके नामसे ही पुकारते हैं
tiryakusrotas tv adhaḥ-srota utpadyati narādhipa | navamaṃ sargam ity āhur etad ārjavakaṃ budhāḥ ||
Yājñavalkya said: “O king, after this there arises the ‘tiryak-srotas’—the class whose current moves sideways—and also the ‘adhaḥ-srotas’—those whose tendency is downward. The wise call this the ninth creation (ninth sarga), and they also designate it by the name ‘Ārjavaka’ creation.”
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a cosmological classification of beings by their ‘direction of flow’ (srotas)—sideways and downward—placing them within a numbered sequence of creations (the ninth sarga), emphasizing an ordered, intelligible structure to manifestation as taught by sages.
In a didactic exchange, Yājñavalkya instructs the king by enumerating stages of creation; here he identifies the emergence of the tiryak-srotas and adhaḥ-srotas classes and names this stage the ninth sarga, also called Ārjavaka.