Shloka 40

प्रलय-त्रिविध-विभागः एवं प्राकृतप्रलय-वर्णनम्

Devanagari script

अन्धकारीकृते लोके नष्टे स्थावरजङ्गमे वर्षन्ति ते महामेघा वर्षाणाम् अधिकं शतम्

Transliteration

andhakārīkṛte loke naṣṭe sthāvarajaṅgame varṣanti te mahāmeghā varṣāṇām adhikaṃ śatam

Translation

When the world has been veiled in darkness, and all that is immovable and movable has perished, those vast clouds pour down rain for more than a hundred years.

Word by Word

• अन्धकारीकृते: when it has been made dark
• अन्धकारीकृते: Adhikarana (Locative/अधिकरण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अन्धकार + कृ (धातु) → अन्धकारीकृत (कृदन्त-भूतकृदन्त/PPP)
• Form: सप्तमी (7th), एकवचन; भूतकृदन्त (Locative singular; past passive participle used in locative absolute)

• लोके: in the world
• लोके: Adhikarana (Locative/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: लोक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th), एकवचन (Masculine, Locative, Singular)

• नष्टे: when (it is) destroyed
• नष्टे: Adhikarana (Locative/अधिकरण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नश् (धातु) → नष्ट (कृदन्त-भूतकृदन्त/PPP)
• Form: सप्तमी (7th), एकवचन; भूतकृदन्त (Locative singular; past passive participle used in locative absolute)

• स्थावरजङ्गमे: when the immobile and mobile (creation) is destroyed
• स्थावरजङ्गमे: Adhikarana (Locative/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्थावर + जङ्गम (प्रातिपदिक; स्थावर=immobile + जङ्गम=mobile)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th), एकवचन; द्वन्द्वसमास (Neuter, Locative, Singular; dvandva ‘immobile and mobile beings’)

• वर्षन्ति: rain
• वर्षन्ति: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वृष् (धातु)
• Form: लट् (वर्तमान), प्रथमपुरुष, बहुवचन; परस्मैपद (Present indicative, 3rd person plural, Parasmaipada)

• ते: they
• ते: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन (Masculine, Nominative, Plural)

• महामेघाः: great clouds
• महामेघाः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: महा + मेघ (प्रातिपदिक; महा=great + मेघ=cloud)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), बहुवचन (Masculine, Nominative, Plural)

• वर्षाणाम्: of years
• वर्षाणाम्: Sambandha (Genitive/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वर्ष (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th), बहुवचन (Neuter, Genitive, Plural)

• अधिकम्: more / additional
• अधिकम्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अधिक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषण (Neuter, Accusative, Singular; adjectival)

• शतम्: a hundred
• शतम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; परिमाण/काल-प्रमाण (Neuter, Accusative, Singular; measure)

Speaker

Sage Parāśara (speaking to Maitreya)

Parashara-Maitreya Dialogue

Speaker: Parasara

Topic: Terminal phase of naimittika-pralaya: darkness, extinction of beings, prolonged rains

Teaching: Cosmological

Quality: solemn

Philosophical Teaching

Concept: When all moving and unmoving beings perish and darkness covers the world, the cycle returns toward quiescence—pointing to Viṣṇu alone as the final ground beyond dissolution.

Vedantic Theme: Brahman

Application: Practice remembrance and surrender so that identity is rooted in the imperishable Lord rather than in perishing names and forms.

Vishishtadvaita: Viṣṇu is both the transcendent refuge and the immanent controller who gathers the universe back into subtlety; dissolution is a divine, purposeful reabsorption, not mere chaos.

Vaishnava Theology

Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman

Bhakti Type: Shanta

Antaryamin: Yes

Jagat Karana: Yes

Characters & Entities

• Sage Parāśara
• Maitreya
• Mahāmeghā (great clouds)

FAQs

What is the significance of the great clouds (mahāmeghāḥ) in the Vishnu Purana’s pralaya account?

They symbolize the divinely-ordered mechanism of dissolution: once the world is darkened and life-forms collapse, the pralaya-clouds rain for over a hundred years to inundate and erase remaining structures of manifested existence.

How does Sage Parāśara explain the process of dissolution in this passage?

Parāśara presents pralaya as sequential and lawful: darkness covers the world, all movable and immovable beings perish, and then prolonged rains from immense clouds complete the submergence of the cosmos.

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

Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the narrative frames pralaya as occurring under supreme governance—implying that dissolution is not chaos but a return of all forms toward the ultimate reality upheld by Vishnu.