Shloka 13
दक्षिणा-दिक्, पितृपक्ष-प्रतिष्ठा, तथा कर्मगतिः — Suparṇa’s Cosmographic Instruction
इसी दिशामें यज्ञोंद्वारा तृप्त हुए अग्निगण अपने योनिस्वरूप जलका उपभोग करते हैं। यहीं वरुणने पातालका आश्रय लेकर लक्ष्मीको प्राप्त किया था ।।
asmin diśi yajñair tṛptā agnayaḥ svayoni-bhūtaṃ jalam upabhuñjate | atraiva varuṇo pātālam āśritya lakṣmīm avāpa || atra pūrvaṃ vasiṣṭhasya paurāṇasya dvijarṣabha | sūtiś caiva pratiṣṭhā ca nidhanaṃ ca prakāśate ||
Yuparṇa said: “In this very quarter, the hosts of Fire—satisfied by sacrificial offerings—partake of water, their own womb-like source. Here too Varuṇa, taking refuge in the netherworld, attained Lakṣmī (prosperity and auspicious fortune). And here, O bull among the twice-born, are made known the ancient sage Vasiṣṭha’s birth, his establishment in honored standing (among the Seven Seers), and also his end—when, through Nimi’s curse, he relinquished his body.”
युपर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links ritual duty (yajña) with cosmic reciprocity: offerings sustain the divine fires, and the world’s elements return to their sources. It also underscores moral causality—status and even a great sage’s embodied life can be shaped by ethical and relational forces such as a curse.
Yuparṇa describes a particular sacred quarter associated with mythic events: the fires nourished by sacrifice, Varuṇa’s attaining Lakṣmī after resorting to Pātāla, and key milestones of Vasiṣṭha—his birth, his recognized standing among the seers, and his death due to King Nimi’s curse.