Shloka 38

कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः

Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma

Devanagari script

अल्पसाराल्पदेहाश्व॒ तथा सत्याल्पभाषिण: । बहुशून्या जनपदा मृगव्यालावृता दिश:

Transliteration

alpasārālpadehāś ca tathā satyālpabhāṣiṇaḥ | bahuśūnyā janapadā mṛgavyālāvṛtā diśaḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : «Les hommes seront de peu de substance et de corps chétifs, et leurs paroles ne contiendront qu’une faible part de vérité. Bien des contrées seront presque désertées, et toutes les directions seront envahies de bêtes sauvages et de prédateurs.»

Word by Word

• अल्पसाराः: having little essence/strength
• अल्पसाराः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अल्पसार
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• अल्पदेहाः: having small/weak bodies
• अल्पदेहाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अल्पदेह
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• तथा: likewise
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• सत्याल्पभाषिणः: speaking little truth / scarcely truthful in speech
• सत्याल्पभाषिणः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सत्याल्पभाषिन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• बहुशून्याः: largely empty (of people)
• बहुशून्याः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: बहुशून्य
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• जनपदाः: countries/settlements
• जनपदाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: जनपद
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• मृगव्यालावृताः: covered/filled with beasts and predators
• मृगव्यालावृताः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मृगव्यालावृत
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• दिशः: directions/quarters
• दिशः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: दिश्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• janapadāḥ (regions/realms)
• diśaḥ (the directions/quarters)
• mṛgāḥ (wild animals)
• vyālāḥ (predators/dangerous beasts)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse warns that when dharma declines, human character and strength diminish: people lose inner substance, truthfulness in speech wanes, and society becomes unsafe and depopulated—an ethical reminder that truth (satya) and inner worth (sāra) sustain social order.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana is describing ominous future conditions—signs of an age of decline—where human communities thin out and the natural world (wild beasts and predators) encroaches upon inhabited spaces, indicating disorder and insecurity.