Shloka 8

Matsya Purana — Saptamī Sacred Bath and the Mṛtavatsābhiṣeka Rite for Pacifying Misfortune an...

Devanagari script

स सप्तद्वीपमखिलं पालयिष्यति भूतलम् यावद्वर्षसहस्राणि सप्तसप्तति नारद //

Transliteration

sa saptadvīpamakhilaṃ pālayiṣyati bhūtalam yāvadvarṣasahasrāṇi saptasaptati nārada //

Translation

O Nārada, he will protect and rule the whole earth with its seven continents for seventy-seven thousand years.

Word by Word

• स (sa): he

• सप्तद्वीपम् (saptadvīpam): the seven-continent world / the earth divided into seven dvīpas

• अखिलम् (akhilam): entire, complete

• पालयिष्यति (pālayiṣyati): will protect, will rule

• भूतलम् (bhūtalam): the earth, earthly realm

• यावत् (yāvat): for as long as, up to

• वर्षसहस्राणि (varṣa-sahasrāṇi): thousands of years

• सप्तसप्तति (saptasaptati): seventy-seven

• नारद (nārada): O Nārada

Speaker

• Sūta (narrating to Śaunaka and the sages), quoting a dynastic/royal prognostication addressed to Nārada

Entities Mentioned

• Nārada
• Saptadvīpa
• Bhūtala

Tags

• Rajadharma
• Dynasties
• Kingship
• Saptadvipa
• Prophecy

FAQs

What does this verse reveal about the creation or dissolution (Pralaya)?

This verse does not describe Pralaya directly; it reflects a Purāṇic royal chronology in which a ruler’s divinely-measured reign spans “seventy-seven thousand years,” implying a cosmic time-scale rather than a flood or dissolution episode.

How does this verse relate to the duties of a King or Householder?

The key verb pālayiṣyati (“will protect/govern”) highlights the Rajadharma ideal: a king’s primary duty is protection and orderly rule of the realm (bhūtala), conceived here as the complete saptadvīpa world—governance as guardianship, not mere power.

What is the architectural or ritual significance mentioned here?

No explicit Vāstu, iconographic, or ritual procedure is stated in this verse; its technical focus is political-cosmological—sovereignty over the saptadvīpa earth and the specified duration of rule.