Shloka 67
Varṣa-Parvata-Nivāsinām Varnanam
Description of Regions, Mountains, and Their Inhabitants
क्षत्रियोपनिवेशाश्न वैश्यशूद्रकुलानि च । शूद्राभीराश्न॒ दरदा: काश्मीरा: पशुभि: सह,सकृदग्रह, कुलत्थ, हूण, पारसिक, रमण-चीन, दशमालिक, क्षत्रियोंके उपनिवेश, वैश्यों और शाूद्रोंके जनपद, शूद्र, आभीर, दरद, काश्मीर, पशु, खाशीर, अन्तचार, पह्वव, गिरिगह्वर, आत्रेय, भरद्वाज, स्तनपोषिक, प्रोषक, कलिंग, किरात जातियोंके जनपद, तोमर, हनन््यमान और करभंजक इत्यादि
kṣatriyopaniveśāś ca vaiśyaśūdrakulāni ca | śūdrābhīrāś ca daradāḥ kāśmīrāḥ paśubhiḥ saha ||
Sañjaya said: “There were also settlements of Kṣatriyas, and communities of Vaiśyas and Śūdras; and Śūdras, Ābhīras, Daradas, and Kāśmīras—together with their herds and livestock.” In this catalogue-like passage, the epic underscores the vast, many-peopled world drawn into the war’s orbit, hinting at the ethical weight of a conflict that gathers not only kings but entire societies and their means of livelihood.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse is not a doctrinal maxim but an epic reminder of scale: war implicates entire populations—social groups, regions, and livelihoods (even herds). Ethically, it gestures toward the broad human and material cost that accompanies royal ambition and battlefield decisions.
Sañjaya continues a catalogue of peoples and regions associated with the forces and the wider world around the Kurukṣetra conflict, listing various communities (by varṇa and by ethnonym) and noting their livestock, emphasizing the vast mobilization surrounding the war.