Shloka 120
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
गन्धर्वाप्सरसो यक्षानषींश्वैव महीपते । देत्यदानवसड्घांश्व नागांश्न मनुजाधिप
vaiśampāyana uvāca | gandharvāpsaraso yakṣān ṛṣīṃś caiva mahīpate | daityadānavasaṅghāṃś ca nāgāṃś ca manu-jādhipa | pṛthvīpate sādhya-rudrādityān guhyakān pitaro 'pi ca | sarpān nāgān suparṇāṃś ca vasūn aśvinī-kumārakān | gandharvān apsarasaś ca yakṣāṃś caiva mayā dṛṣṭāḥ | daityadānavasaṅghāṃś ca nāgān siṃhikā-sutān api | anyān devāriṇo 'py anye mayā dṛṣṭā narādhipa | asmin loke mayā dṛṣṭaṃ yat kiṃcid sthāvara-jaṅgamam | tat sarvaṃ tasya mahātmanaḥ kukṣau me samadṛśyata | mahārāja ahaṃ pratidinaṃ phalāhāraḥ san carāmi sarva-loke ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : «Ô roi, j’ai vu les Gandharvas et les Apsaras, les Yakṣas et les Ṛṣis ; des cohortes de Daityas et de Dānavas ; et les Nāgas aussi, ô seigneur des hommes. Ô maître de la terre, j’ai encore contemplé les Sādhyas, les Rudras, les Ādityas, les Guhyakas, les Pitṛs ; les serpents et les Nāgas, les Suparṇas, les Vasus, et les jumeaux Aśvin ; les Gandharvas, les Apsaras, les Yakṣas, et bien d’autres. J’ai vu les assemblées des Daityas et des Dānavas, les Nāgas, et les fils de Siṃhikā (tels Rāhu), ainsi que d’autres ennemis des dieux. Ô roi, tout ce que j’avais vu en ce monde—êtres et choses, immobiles ou mouvants—m’apparut au-dedans du ventre de ce grand être. Et, ô grand roi, je vis chaque jour de fruits et j’erre à travers le monde entier.»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage emphasizes the vastness and interconnection of creation: all classes of beings—divine, human-adjacent, and demonic—are encompassed within a higher reality, symbolized by the vision of the entire world appearing within the great-souled being’s belly. It also highlights disciplined living (subsisting on fruits) and continual wandering as an ascetic mode aligned with restraint and observation.
Vaiśampāyana reports a marvel-filled experience to a king: he has seen numerous orders of beings (gods, spirits, sages, demons, serpent-races, and celestial groups). He then states that everything he had seen in the world—moving and unmoving—appeared within the belly of a certain mahātman, and he describes his own daily practice of fruit-eating and roaming through the world.