Shloka 142
रुद्र-स्तवराजः (Rudra-Stavarāja) — Exempla of Śiva’s Boons and the Hymn’s Phalaśruti
कला: काष्ठा लवा मात्रा मुहूर्ताहःक्षपा: क्षणा: । विश्वेक्षेत्र प्रजाबीज॑ लिड्रमाद्यस्तु निर्गम:
vāyudeva uvāca | kalāḥ kāṣṭhā lavā mātrā muhūrtāhaḥkṣapāḥ kṣaṇāḥ | viśvakṣetraṁ prajābījaṁ liṅgam ādyas tu nirgamaḥ ||
Vāyudeva dit : «Kalās, kāṣṭhās, lavas, mātrās, muhūrtas, jours et nuits, et kṣaṇas : telles sont les mesures et les divisions du Temps. Il est le soutien de l’univers, tel le sol d’un arbre cosmique ; il est la cause-semence de tous les êtres ; il est le signe subtil (liṅga) par lequel on infère l’inmanifesté ; et il est le premier à surgir dans la création.»
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a metaphysical teaching: Time is articulated through its traditional subdivisions, and behind these measures stands a primordial principle—support of the cosmos, seed of beings, subtle sign of the unmanifest, and the first manifestation in creation.
Vāyudeva is describing cosmic principles rather than a battlefield event: he enumerates units of time and then characterizes the foundational source that underlies the universe and initiates the process of manifestation.