Shloka 107
अनुक्रमणिकाध्यायः (Anukramaṇikā Adhyāya) — Invocation, Narrator Frame, and Textual Scope
एकं शतसहसंर तु मानुषेषु प्रतिक्तितम् । नारदो5श्रावयद् देवानसितो देवल: पितृन्,इस मनुष्यलोकमें एक लाख शलोकोंका आद्यभारत (महाभारत) प्रतिष्ठित है। देवर्षि नारदने देवताओंको और असित-देवलने पितरोंको इसका श्रवण कराया है
ekaṁ śata-sahasraṁ tu mānuṣeṣu pratiṣṭhitam | nārado 'śrāvayad devān asito devalaḥ pitṝn ||
Among human beings, this Ādi-Bhārata (the Mahābhārata) is established as a work of one hundred thousand verses. The divine sage Nārada recited it for the gods, and Asita Devala caused the ancestors (Pitṛs) to hear it—signaling the epic’s authority across the human, divine, and ancestral realms.
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the Mahābhārata’s established authority and sacred transmission: it is not merely a human composition but a revered itihāsa heard and affirmed in multiple realms—human, divine, and ancestral—thereby strengthening its role as a guide to dharma.
In the opening framing of the epic’s tradition, the text notes its canonical extent (one hundred thousand verses) and names eminent sages who transmitted it: Nārada to the gods and Asita-Devala to the Pitṛs, presenting a lineage of recitation and reception.