Shloka 106
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
एताश्षान्याश्व नद्यो5हं पृथिव्यां या नरोत्तम । परिक्रामन् प्रपश्यामि तस्य कुक्षौ महात्मन:
etāś cānyāś ca nadyo 'haṃ pṛthivyāṃ yā narottama | parikrāman prapaśyāmi tasya kukṣau mahātmanaḥ ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「人のうち最勝の者よ、我が巡り歩くとき、その大いなる魂の者の腹中に、これらすべての河川を見、また地上を流れる他の河川をも見た。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse evokes a cosmic perspective: the entire sacred landscape (symbolized by the rivers of the earth) can be contained within a higher, mysterious reality. It underscores humility before the vastness of dharma and the world-order, where the familiar geography becomes part of a larger, awe-inspiring vision.
The narrator describes moving about and seeing, within the belly of a great being, the rivers of the earth (and by implication the whole world). It is a marvel-episode in which ordinary spatial boundaries are overturned, presenting an interior ‘world’ that contains the external world.