Shloka 33
Atithi-prāpti and the Brāhmaṇa’s Deliberation on Triadic Dharma (अतिथिप्राप्तिः धर्मत्रयविचारश्च)
महाभूतानि सृष्ट्वैव तान् गुणान् निर्ममे पुन: । भूतेभ्यश्वैव निष्पन्ना मूर्तिमन्तश्न॒ तान् शृूणु
mahābhūtāni sṛṣṭvaiva tān guṇān nirmame punaḥ | bhūtebhyaś caiva niṣpannā mūrtimantaś ca tān śṛṇu ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Having first created the great elements, he then fashioned their corresponding qualities again—such as sound and touch. And from those very elements arose embodied beings. Now listen as I tell you of them.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse outlines a cosmological sequence: the great elements are created first, then their sensory qualities (sound, touch, etc.), and from these arise embodied beings—linking material elements, perception, and living forms in a structured order.
Vaiśampāyana continues an explanatory discourse in Śānti Parva, describing how creation proceeds from elements to qualities and then to formed creatures, preparing the listener for a listing or classification of embodied beings.