Shloka 23
Śākadvīpa–Pramāṇa–Varṇana
Measurements and Description of Śākadvīpa
मुनिदेशात् परश्रैव प्रोच्यते दुन्दुभिस्वन: । सिद्धचारणसंकीर्णो गौरप्रायो जनाधिप
munideśāt paraś caiva procyate dundubhisvanaḥ | siddhacāraṇasaṅkīrṇo gauraprāyo janādhipa ||
संजय बोले—हे जनाधिप! मुनिदेश के आगे दुन्दुभि के समान गम्भीर नाद सुनाई देता है। वहाँ सिद्ध और चारणों की भीड़ है और श्वेत-सा प्रकाश प्रायः छाया रहता है।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how momentous actions—especially war undertaken by kings—are framed by larger cosmic and moral atmospheres: signs, proclamations, and the witnessing presence of higher beings. It hints that human conflict is not merely private ambition but a public, ethically weighty event observed and judged in a wider order.
Sañjaya reports to the king that a powerful, drum-like sound is being heard from the direction associated with sages and other quarters, in a scene crowded with celestial Siddhas and Cāraṇas. The description functions as an omen-like, heightened prelude to the great battle setting.