Shloka 1
Bhārata-varṣa-varṇana
Description of Bhārata: Mountains, Rivers, and Janapadas
अपन का बछ। ] अतडडऑफ<ज दशमो< ध्याय: भारतवर्षमें युगोंके अनुसार मनुष्योंकी आयु तथा गुणोंका निरूपण धृतराष्ट्र रवाच भारतस्यास्य वर्षस्य तथा हैमवतस्य च । प्रमाणमायुष: सूत बल॑ चापि शुभाशुभम्
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca — bhāratasyāsya varṣasya tathā haimavatasya ca | pramāṇam āyuṣaḥ sūta balaṃ cāpi śubhāśubham ||
धृतराष्ट्र ने कहा—हे सूत (संजय)! इस भारतवर्ष तथा हैमवतवर्ष के लोगों की आयु का प्रमाण, उनका बल, और शुभ-अशुभ फल बताओ।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic-cosmological inquiry: human life (āyuḥ) and power (bala) are not merely personal traits but are understood in relation to time (yuga-like cycles) and to the moral texture of outcomes (śubha/āśubha). It signals that ethical causality and temporal conditions shape human flourishing.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra questions Sañjaya, asking him to describe the characteristics of people in Bhārata-varṣa and the Himalayan region—especially lifespan, strength, and the pattern of auspicious and inauspicious results—introducing a descriptive, world-order oriented discourse within Bhīṣma-parvan.