Shloka 78
Śiva-stavarāja: Upamanyu’s Preface and Initiation of the Śarva-Nāma Enumeration
Anuśāsana-parva 17
बीजाध्यक्षो बीजकर्ता अध्यात्मानुगतो बल: । इतिहास: सकल्पश्ष गौतमो5थ निशाकर:
bījādhyakṣo bījakartā adhyātmānugato balaḥ | itihāsaḥ sakalpaś ca gautamo 'tha niśākaraḥ ||
Vāyu dit : « Il est le surveillant des semences (les principes causaux) et le faiseur des semences ; il suit la voie de la connaissance spirituelle intérieure et il est puissant. Il est aussi Itihāsa (l’histoire sacrée), avec Kalpa (le rite et ses procédures ordonnées) ; il est Gautama (le sage du raisonnement) et aussi Niśākara, la Lune. »
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents the divine as the ultimate cause behind causes (‘seed’ of seeds), as the power that sustains spiritual insight (adhyātma), and as the source of multiple knowledge-traditions—narrative revelation (itihāsa), ritual order (kalpa), and rational inquiry (Gautama/nyāya)—showing that dharma is supported by an integrated vision of spirituality, ritual, and reason.
Vāyu is praising and identifying the supreme principle through a series of epithets. He describes that reality as the controller and producer of causal origins, as spiritually grounded and powerful, and as manifesting in authoritative forms of knowledge and cosmic form (the Moon).