Shloka 24
Brahmacarya-Upāya: Jñāna, Śauca, and the Mind’s Role in Desire (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय २०७)
भरतनन्दन! धर्मके वसु, अमित तेजस्वी रुद्र, विश्वेदेव, साध्य तथा मरुद्गण--ये बहुत- से पुत्र हुए ।।
bharatanandana! dharmasya vasavaḥ, amita-tejasvī rudraḥ, viśve-devāḥ, sādhyā tathā marud-gaṇāḥ—ete bahavaḥ putrā abhavan. aparāś ca yavīyasyaḥ tābhyo 'nyāḥ saptaviṃśatiḥ. somas tāsāṃ mahābhāgaḥ sarvāsām abhavat patiḥ. tataḥ paścāt dakṣasya anyāḥ saptaviṃśatiḥ kanyā abhavan, yāḥ pūrvoktābhyaḥ kanyābhyo yavīyasyaḥ. mahābhāgaḥ somaḥ tāsāṃ sarvāsām patiḥ. etābhyaḥ atiriktaṃ api dakṣasya bahvyaḥ kanyā abhavan, yāḥ gandharvān aśvān pakṣiṇaḥ gāvaḥ kimpuruṣān matsyān udbhijjān vanaspatīṃś ca ajanayan.
Bhīṣma dit : « Ô rejeton de Bharata, de Dharma naquirent de nombreux fils : les Vasus, le puissant Rudra à l’éclat incommensurable, les Viśvedevas, les Sādhyas et les troupes des Maruts. En outre, Dakṣa eut encore vingt-sept filles, plus jeunes que les précédentes ; et l’illustre Soma devint l’époux de toutes. Au-delà de celles-ci, Dakṣa eut bien d’autres filles, qui donnèrent naissance à diverses classes d’êtres : Gandharvas, chevaux, oiseaux, vaches, Kiṃpuruṣas, poissons, êtres nés de germes, et toutes les plantes. »
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames cosmic order through dharmic genealogy: divine and natural classes arise from principled sources (Dharma, Dakṣa), suggesting that the world’s diversity is structured, interconnected, and sustained by lawful relationships rather than randomness.
Bhīṣma continues a cosmological-genealogical account: he lists major divine groups as offspring of Dharma, then states that Dakṣa had twenty-seven younger daughters married to Soma, and that other daughters of Dakṣa became progenitors of many species and classes of beings.