Shloka 58
Varṣa-Parvata-Nivāsinām Varnanam
Description of Regions, Mountains, and Their Inhabitants
अथापरे जनपदा दक्षिणा भरतर्षभ | द्रविडा: केरला: प्राच्या भूषिका वनवासिका:,भरतश्रेष्ठ] अब जो दक्षिणदिशाके अन्यान्य जनपद हैं उनका वर्णन सुनिये--द्रविड, केरल, प्राच्य, भूषिक, वनवासिक, कर्णाटक, महिषक, विकल्प, मूषक, झिल्लिक, कुन्तल, सौहृद, नभकानन, कौकुट्टक, चोल, कोंकण, मालव, नर, समंग, करक, कुकुर, अंगार, मारिष, ध्वजिनी, उत्सव-संकेत, त्रिगर्त, शाल्वसेनि, व्यूक, कोकबक, प्रोष्ठ, समवेगवश, विन्ध्यचुलिक, पुलिन्द, वल्कल, मालव, बल्लव, अपरबल्लव, कुलिन्द, कालद, कुण्डल, करट, मूषक, स्तनबाल, सनीप, घट, सूंजय, अठिद, पाशिवाट, तनय, सुनय, ऋषिक, विदभ, काक, तंगण, परतंगण, उत्तर और क्रूर अपरम्लेच्छ, यवन, चीन तथा जहाँ भयानक म्लेच्छक-जातिके लोग निवास करते हैं, वह काम्बोज
athāpare janapadā dakṣiṇā bharatarṣabha | draviḍāḥ keralāḥ prācyā bhūṣikā vanavāsikāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “O bull among the Bharatas, now hear of the other realms lying to the south: the Draviḍas, the Keralas, the Prācyas, the Bhūṣikas, and the Vanavāsikas.” In this catalogue of peoples, the epic situates the coming war within the full breadth of Bhārata’s human landscape, implying that the conflict’s moral and political consequences extend far beyond a single dynasty.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the epic’s vision of a morally consequential war whose effects and stakeholders span many peoples and regions; it frames the conflict as a matter of public order (rājadharma) affecting the whole land, not merely a private family dispute.
Sañjaya continues a geographical-ethnographic enumeration, turning to the southern janapadas and naming several peoples, as part of a broader survey of regions and groups connected to the great war.