Shloka 105

धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)

Devanagari script

यदा वेदश्रुतिर्नष्टा मया प्रत्याहता पुन: । सवेदा: सश्रुतीकाश्च कृताः पूर्व कृते युगे

Transliteration

yadā vedaśrutir naṣṭā mayā pratyāhatā punaḥ | sa-vedāḥ sa-śrutīkāś ca kṛtāḥ pūrvaṃ kṛte yuge ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dit : «Chaque fois que la tradition védique (śruti) s’est perdue, je l’ai de nouveau rétablie et ramenée à la lumière. En vérité, dans l’antique Yuga Kṛta (Satya), j’avais déjà rendu manifestes les Veda, avec leurs traditions de śruti.»

Word by Word

• {'yadā': 'when, whenever', 'veda-śrutiḥ': 'the Vedic śruti

• the heard/revealed Vedic tradition', 'naṣṭā': 'lost, destroyed, disappeared', 'mayā': 'by me', 'pratyāhatā': 'brought back, restored, re-established (lit. struck back/returned)', 'punaḥ': 'again', 'sa-vedāḥ': 'together with the Vedas', 'sa-śrutīkāḥ': 'together with the śrutis/śruti-traditions', 'ca': 'and', 'kṛtāḥ': 'made, established, brought into being', 'pūrvam': 'formerly, earlier', 'kṛte yuge': 'in the Kṛta Yuga (Satya Yuga)'}

Speaker

(भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Veda
• Śruti
• Kṛta Yuga (Satya Yuga)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes the enduring primacy of śruti (Vedic revelation) for dharma and the idea that when sacred knowledge declines, it is restored so that moral and social order can continue.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, he speaks of repeated loss and recovery of Vedic śruti across ages, asserting that it was re-established and that in the primordial Kṛta Yuga the Vedas and their śruti traditions were manifested.