Shloka 64
Varṣa-Parvata-Nivāsinām Varnanam
Description of Regions, Mountains, and Their Inhabitants
अठिदा: पाशिवाटाश्व तनया: सुनयास्तथा । ऋषिका विदभा: काकास्तड़णा: परतद्भणा:,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
sañjaya uvāca |
aṭhidāḥ pāśivāṭāśva-tanayāḥ sunayās tathā |
ṛṣikā vidabhāḥ kākās taṅgaṇāḥ parataṅgaṇāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “So too (among the southern and adjoining peoples) are the Aṭhidās, the Pāśivāṭas, the Aśva-tanayas (‘sons of horses’/horse-bred clans), the Sunayas; likewise the Ṛṣikas, the Vidabhas, the Kākas, the Taṅgaṇas, and the Parataṅgaṇas.” In this passage, the narrator continues a catalog of regions and communities, mapping the vast human landscape surrounding the Kurukṣetra conflict and underscoring that the war’s reach and consequences extend far beyond a single royal house.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse is primarily descriptive rather than doctrinal: by enumerating many peoples and regions, it conveys the epic’s moral scale—political ambition and adharma in a royal conflict can draw in (or affect) far-flung communities, reminding the listener that collective suffering and responsibility extend beyond the immediate protagonists.
Sañjaya continues reporting to Dhṛtarāṣṭra a geographic-ethnographic catalog of janapadas and tribes associated with the broader world around the Kurukṣetra war, here naming groups such as the Vidabhas (Vidarbha) and Taṅgaṇas among others.