Shloka 9
Adhyāya 352: Brāhmaṇa–Nāga Saṃvāda — Uñchavrata-niścaya
Dialogue and the Resolve to Practice Uñchavrata
क्षीरोदस्य समुद्रस्य मध्ये हाटकसप्रभ: । वैजयन्त इति ख्यात: पर्वतप्रवरो नृप,नरेश्वर! क्षीरसागरके मध्यभागमें वैजयन्त नामसे विख्यात एक श्रेष्ठ पर्वत है, जो सुवर्णकी-सी कान्तिसे प्रकाशित होता है
kṣīrodasya samudrasya madhye hāṭakasaprabhaḥ | vaijayanta iti khyātaḥ parvatapravaro nṛpa |
Vaiśampāyana said: “O king, in the midst of the Ocean of Milk there stands a foremost mountain, famed by the name Vaijayanta, shining with the radiance of refined gold.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse primarily conveys sacred cosmological imagery: the pure ‘Ocean of Milk’ contains a central, gold-radiant, foremost mountain. Implicitly, it models the idea of an ordered cosmos with luminous centers—symbols of excellence and auspiciousness—rather than offering a direct ethical injunction.
Vaiśampāyana describes to the king a remarkable feature of the cosmic landscape: in the middle of the Ocean of Milk stands the renowned mountain Vaijayanta, shining like gold.