Shloka 30

Devanagari script

वेदना स्वसुतं चापि दुःखं जज्ञे ऽथ रौरवात् मृत्योर् व्याधिजराशोकतृष्णाक्रोधाश् च जज्ञिरे

Transliteration

vedanā svasutaṃ cāpi duḥkhaṃ jajñe 'tha rauravāt mṛtyor vyādhijarāśokatṛṣṇākrodhāś ca jajñire

Translation

From Raurava arose Vedanā, Pain, and she also bore her own offspring—Duḥkha, Sorrow. From Mṛtyu were born disease, old age, grief, craving, and anger.

Word by Word

• vedanā: Pain/Vedana
• vedanā: Karta (Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vedanā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• svasutam: Her own son
• svasutam: Visheshana (Adjective to duḥkham)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sva-suta (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular

• ca: And
• ca: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: Conjunction

• api: Also
• api: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: api (अव्यय)
• Form: Particle

• duḥkham: Misery/Sorrow
• duḥkham: Karma (Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: duḥkha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular

• jajñe: Bore/Produced
• jajñe: Kriya (Action)
• Type: Verb
• Root: jan (धातु)
• Form: Lit Lakara (Perfect), Atmanepada, Prathama Purusha, Singular

• atha: Then
• atha: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: atha (अव्यय)
• Form: Adverb

• rauravāt: From Raurava (Hell)
• rauravāt: Apadana (Source)
• Type: Noun
• Root: raurava (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Ablative (5th/पञ्चमी), Singular

• mṛtyoḥ: From Death
• mṛtyoḥ: Apadana (Source)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mṛtyu (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Ablative (5th/पञ्चमी), Singular

• vyādhijarāśokatṛṣṇākrodhāḥ: Disease, old age, sorrow, greed, and anger
• vyādhijarāśokatṛṣṇākrodhāḥ: Karta (Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vyādhi-jarā-śoka-tṛṣṇā-krodha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural

• ca: And
• ca: None
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: Conjunction

• jajñire: Were born
• jajñire: Kriya (Action)
• Type: Verb
• Root: jan (धातु)
• Form: Lit Lakara (Perfect), Atmanepada, Prathama Purusha, Plural

Speaker

Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya)

Parashara-Maitreya Dialogue

Speaker: Parasara

Topic: Further proliferation of duḥkha through death into disease, aging, grief, craving, and anger

Teaching: Cosmological

Quality: authoritative

Philosophical Teaching

Concept: Suffering multiplies in embodied life: pain gives birth to sorrow, and death generates the familiar afflictions of disease, aging, grief, craving, and anger.

Vedantic Theme: Dharma

Application: Recognize these as predictable patterns of saṃsāra; practice restraint and devotion to reduce tṛṣṇā and krodha, and cultivate equanimity amid inevitable change.

Vishishtadvaita: Afflictions are real experiences of real selves (jīvas) within the Lord’s cosmos; liberation is not denial of reality but release from bondage through His grace.

Characters & Entities

• Raurava
• Vedanā
• Duḥkha
• Mṛtyu
• Vyādhi
• Jarā
• Śoka
• Tṛṣṇā
• Krodha

FAQs

What is the significance of Raurava and Mṛtyu giving rise to suffering in the Vishnu Purana?

This verse presents a cosmological genealogy of misery—showing pain, sorrow, and mental afflictions as structured outcomes within creation, not random events, and thereby emphasizing an ordered universe ultimately under Vishnu’s sovereignty.

How does Sage Parāśara explain the spread of human afflictions like anger and craving?

Parāśara frames them as ‘born’ from Death’s domain—meaning that with embodiment and mortality come secondary conditions (disease, aging, grief) and reactive states (craving, anger) that bind beings within samsāra.

What is the theological importance of Lord Vishnu in this context?

Even when describing the rise of suffering, the Purana implies a cosmos regulated by the Supreme Vishnu: afflictions belong to conditioned existence, while Vishnu remains the transcendent ground and governor of the created order.