Shloka 106
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
एताश्षान्याश्व नद्यो5हं पृथिव्यां या नरोत्तम । परिक्रामन् प्रपश्यामि तस्य कुक्षौ महात्मन:,नरश्रेष्ठ फिर तो मैं उस महात्मा बालकके उदरमें घूमने लगा। घूमते हुए मैंने वहाँ गंगा, सतलज, सीता, यमुना, कोसी, चम्बल, वेत्रवती, चिनाव, सरस्वती, सिन्धु, व्यास, गोदावरी, वस्वोकसारा, नलिनी, नर्मदा, ताम्रपर्णी, वेणा, शुभदायिनी पुण्यतोया, सुवेणा, कृष्णवेणा, महानदी इरामा, वितस्ता (झेलम), महानदी कावेरी, शोणभद्र, विशल्या तथा किम्पुना--इन सबको तथा इस पृथ्वीपर जो अन्य नदियाँ हैं, उनको भी देखा
etāś cānyāś ca nadyo 'haṃ pṛthivyāṃ yā narottama | parikrāman prapaśyāmi tasya kukṣau mahātmanaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O best of men, as I moved about, I beheld within the belly of that great-souled being all these rivers—and also the other rivers that flow upon the earth.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse evokes a cosmic perspective: the entire sacred landscape (symbolized by the rivers of the earth) can be contained within a higher, mysterious reality. It underscores humility before the vastness of dharma and the world-order, where the familiar geography becomes part of a larger, awe-inspiring vision.
The narrator describes moving about and seeing, within the belly of a great being, the rivers of the earth (and by implication the whole world). It is a marvel-episode in which ordinary spatial boundaries are overturned, presenting an interior ‘world’ that contains the external world.