Shloka 3
Bhārata-varṣa-varṇana
Description of Bhārata: Mountains, Rivers, and Janapadas
संजय उवाच चत्वारि भारते वर्षे युगानि भरतर्षभ । कृतं त्रेता द्वापरं च तिष्यं च कुरुवर्धन
sañjaya uvāca | catvāri bhārate varṣe yugāni bharatarṣabha | kṛtaṃ tretā dvāparaṃ ca tiṣyaṃ ca kuruvardhana ||
संजय ने कहा—हे भरतश्रेष्ठ, कुरुवंशवर्धन! भारतवर्ष में चार युग होते हैं—कृत (सत्य), त्रेता, द्वापर और तिष्य (कलि)।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames human history within a moral-cosmic cycle of four yugas, implying that dharma and social order are understood against the backdrop of time’s gradual transformation (often conceived as decline from Kṛta to Kali).
Sanjaya addresses a Bharata/Kuru elder with honorific epithets and begins a description of the yuga system in Bhārata-varṣa, listing the four ages by name, including Tiṣya as a designation for Kali.