Shloka 37
Adhyaya 49 — Primordial Human Creation, the Rise of Desire, and the Origins of Settlements, Measures, and Agriculture
परमाणुः परं सूक्ष्मं त्रसरेणुर्महीरजः ।
बालाग्रञ्चैव लिक्षां च यूकां चाथ यवोदरम् ॥
paramāṇuḥ paraṃ sūkṣmaṃ trasareṇur mahīrajaḥ | bālāgraṃ caiva likṣāṃ ca yūkāṃ cātha yavodaram ||
A paramāṇu is the most subtle measure. Then follow, in sequence, the trasareṇu (a mote of dust), the dust of the earth, the tip of a hair, the likṣā (a nit), the yūkā (a louse), and then the yava-udara (the measure of a barley grain).
{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The verse foregrounds a graded order from the subtlest to the more graspable, reinforcing a Purāṇic habit of making the cosmos intelligible through measured hierarchies—useful for ritual, architecture, and governance.
Indirectly supports Sarga (ordered description of the world) by supplying standardized measures used in describing space, settlement, and extent; it is not a direct genealogy/manvantara episode.
From ‘atom’ to visible measures, it symbolizes the continuum from subtle reality (sūkṣma) to gross manifestation (sthūla), a recurring Purāṇic teaching about layered perception.