Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 173
मार्तण्डस्यात्मजावेतौ संज्ञानासाविनिर्गतौ । नासत्य और दस्न--ये दोनों अश्विनीकुमारके नामसे प्रसिद्ध हैं। इनकी उत्पत्ति भगवान् सूर्यके वीर्यसे हुई है। ये अश्वरूपधारिणी संज्ञा देवीके नाकसे प्रकट हुऐ थे (ये सब मिलाकर तैंतीस देवता हैं)
mārtaṇḍasyātmajāv etau saṃjñānāsāvinirgatau | nāsatyau ca dasnau ca—etau dvāv aśvinīkumārau nāmnā prasiddhau | etayor utpattiḥ bhagavataḥ sūryasya vīryataḥ | aśvarūpadhāriṇyāḥ saṃjñādevyā nāsikāto nirgatāv iti | (ete sarve militvā trayastriṃśad devāḥ)
Dijo Bhīṣma: Estos dos son hijos de Mārtaṇḍa (el Sol), nacidos de las fosas nasales de la diosa Saṃjñā cuando ella asumió la forma de una yegua. Son célebres con los nombres de Nāsatya y Dasra: los gemelos Aśvinī-kumāras. Su origen procede de la potencia del Sol bienaventurado. Así, estas deidades se cuentan dentro del total tradicional de los treinta y tres dioses.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage preserves a traditional Vedic genealogy: the Aśvin twins (Nāsatya and Dasra) are divine beings born from the Sun’s potency through Saṃjñā’s mare-form, and they belong to the canonical group of thirty-three gods—emphasizing continuity of sacred tradition and the ordered cosmology underlying dharma.
Bhīṣma is enumerating and identifying deities: he explains the names and birth-story of the Aśvinī-kumāras, stating that they emerged from Saṃjñā-devī’s nostrils while she had taken a mare’s form, and that their father is Mārtaṇḍa (Sūrya).