Shloka 47

अग्नीषोमोत्पत्तिः

Agni–Soma Origin and the Brahmāgnīṣomīya Doctrine

Devanagari script

दूरात्‌ प्रतिहतो यस्मिन्नेकरश्मिर्दिवाकर: । योनिरंशुसहस्रस्थ येन भाति वसुन्धरा,“जिस वायुके आधारपर आकाशमें दिव्य जल ऊपर-ही-ऊपर प्रवाहित होते हैं, जो आकाशगंगाके पवित्र जलको धारण करके स्थित है और जिसके द्वारा दूरसे ही प्रतिहत होकर सहस्रों किरणोंके उत्पत्तिस्थान सूर्यदेव, जिनसे यह पृथ्वी प्रकाशित होती है, एक ही किरणसे युक्त जान पड़ते हैं तथा जिससे अमृतकी दिव्य निधि चन्द्रमाका भी पोषण होता है, वह विजयशीलोंमें श्रेष्ठ छठा वायुतत्त्व 'परिवह' नामसे प्रसिद्ध है

Transliteration

dūrāt pratihato yasminn eka-raśmir divākaraḥ | yoniḥ aṃśu-sahasrasthaḥ yena bhāti vasundharā ||

Translation

Bhishma said: “When checked by that wind from afar, the Sun—source of a thousand beams—seems as if reduced to a single ray; and by that same agency the earth is made to shine.”

Word by Word

दूरात्from afar

प्रतिहतःstruck back / repelled

यस्मिन्in whom/wherein

एकone

रश्मिःray

दिवाकरःthe Sun

योनिःsource / womb

अंशुray

सहस्रthousand

स्थःstanding / abiding

येनby whom/whereby

भातिshines

वसुन्धराthe earth

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

Divakara (Sun)

Vasundhara (Earth)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Visible splendor (like sunlight) depends on subtle, regulating forces (here, a form of wind) that uphold cosmic order; the verse points to disciplined, law-governed principles as the basis of stability and illumination in the world.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s discourse, a particular wind-principle is being characterized through its cosmic effects: it checks the sun’s many rays so that the sun appears one-rayed from afar, and through it the earth is illuminated.