Shloka 27
प्रियव्रतवंशवर्णनम् — सप्तद्वीपविभागः, जम्बूद्वीप-वर्षविभागः, भरत-नामकरणम्
ऋषभाद् भरतो जज्ञे ज्येष्ठः पुत्रशतस्य सः कृत्वा राज्यं स्वधर्मेण तथेष्ट्वा विविधान् मखान्
ṛṣabhād bharato jajñe jyeṣṭhaḥ putraśatasya saḥ kṛtvā rājyaṃ svadharmeṇa tatheṣṭvā vividhān makhān
From Ṛṣabha was born Bharata, the eldest among a hundred sons. Ruling in accordance with his own dharma, he also performed many kinds of sacrificial rites.
Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Lineage from Ṛṣabha to Bharata and Bharata’s dharmic kingship and sacrifices
Teaching: Historical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Svadharma upheld through righteous governance and properly performed sacrifices sustains social and cosmic order.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Do one’s station-based responsibilities with integrity, while offering the fruits as service; let discipline and ethical rule be a form of worship.
Vishishtadvaita: Karma (including rāja-dharma and yajña) is meaningful within a real world-order, and can be oriented as kainkarya (service) to the Supreme rather than mere worldly gain.
Dharma Exemplar: Rāja-dharma (svadharma) expressed through righteous rule and yajña
Key Kings: Ṛṣabha, Bharata
FAQs
This verse presents Bharata as Ṛṣabha’s foremost heir—an archetypal righteous king—linking royal lineage with the ethical duty of governance and the performance of yajñas that uphold cosmic and social order.
Parāśara frames kingship as sva-dharma—an ordained responsibility—where a ruler sustains order not merely through power, but through dharmic rule and sacrificial acts that harmonize the realm with ṛta (universal order).
Though Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Vishnu Purana’s theology treats dharma and yajña as ultimately grounded in Vishnu’s supreme sovereignty; righteous kingship functions as a worldly instrument aligned with that higher divine order.