Shloka 18

Kubera’s Fivefold Nīti and Protection of the Pāṇḍavas (वैश्रवणोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

उपर्युपरि शैलस्य बद्दीश्व सरित: शिवा: । पृष्ठ हिमवत: पुण्यं ययौ सप्तदशेडहनि,कैलास, मैनाकपर्वत, गन्धमादनकी घाटियों और श्वेत (हिमालय) पर्वतका दर्शन करते हुए उन्होंने पर्वतमालाओंके ऊपर-ऊपर बहुत-सी कल्याणमयी सरिताएँ देखीं तथा सत्रहवें दिन वे हिमालयके एक पावन पृष्ठभागपर जा पहुँचे

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca | uparyupari śailasya baddhīṣv saritaḥ śivāḥ | pṛṣṭhaṃ himavataḥ puṇyaṃ yayau saptadaśe 'hani ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: Moving along the upper ridges of the mountain, they beheld many auspicious rivers flowing in their courses; and on the seventeenth day they reached a sacred back-slope of Himavat (the Himalaya). The passage underscores the sanctity of the Himalayan landscape—rivers and peaks as purifying presences that support the travelers’ disciplined journey.

Word by Word

उपरिabove, on

उपरिagain above (repeated: very high/over and over)

शैलस्यof the mountain

बद्धीःbound/clustered (together)

चand

सरितःrivers/streams

शिवाःauspicious, beneficent

पृष्ठम्back/slope/region

हिमवतःof Himavat (the Himalaya)

पुण्यम्holy, sacred

ययौwent, proceeded

सप्तदशेon the seventeenth

अहनिday

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Himavat (Himalaya)

mountain ridges

auspicious rivers

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?

The verse highlights sacred geography: contact with holy mountains and auspicious rivers is portrayed as spiritually elevating, supporting a disciplined journey oriented toward purity and merit (puṇya).

What is happening in the narrative?

The travelers proceed along high mountain ridges, observing many auspicious rivers, and on the seventeenth day they arrive at a holy back-slope of the Himalaya (Himavat).