Bhishma Parva Adhyaya 12 Shloka 14 - Mahabharata | Kannada | Vedapath

Vyasa

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Shloka 14

Devanagari script

सप्तमं कापिल वर्ष सप्तैते वर्षलम्भका: । एतेषु देवगन्धर्वा: प्रजाश्न॒ जगतीश्वर

Transliteration

saptamaṁ kāpilaṁ varṣa saptaitāni varṣalambhakāḥ | eteṣu devagandharvāḥ prajāś ca jagatīśvara |

Translation

ಸಂಜಯನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ಏಳನೆಯ ವರ್ಷ ‘ಕಾಪಿಲ’ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತದೆ; ಇವು ಏಳು ವರ್ಷಸಮೂಹಗಳು. ಓ ಜಗತೀಶ್ವರ! ಇವುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ದೇವರುಗಳು, ಗಂಧರ್ವರು ಮತ್ತು ಮಾನವರು ಸಂತೋಷದಿಂದ ವಿಹರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಮರಣವಿಲ್ಲ; ಓ ನರೇಶ್ವರ! ಅಲ್ಲಿ ದೋಚುಗಾರರೂ ಇಲ್ಲ, ಮ್ಲೇಚ್ಛಜಾತಿಯವರೂ ಇಲ್ಲ.

Word by Word

सप्तमम्the seventh

कापिलम्Kapila-named

वर्षम्region/varṣa (division of the earth)

सप्तseven

एतेthese

वर्षलम्भकाःvarṣa-groups/divisions (lit. varṣa-collectors/holders)

एतेषुamong/in these

देवगन्धर्वाःgods and Gandharvas

प्रजाःpeople/creatures

चand

जगतीश्वरO lord of the earth/world

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Kāpila-varṣa

Devas

Gandharvas

Prajāḥ (human beings/subjects)

Jagatīśvara (the king addressed, i.e., Dhṛtarāṣṭra)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse contrasts an ideal, dharmically ordered realm—free from death, crime, and social disruption—with the human world, implying that righteous order and protection of subjects are central to kingship and to a harmonious society.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya is describing cosmographical divisions of the earth, naming the seventh as Kāpila-varṣa and portraying it as a blissful region inhabited by gods, Gandharvas, and people, where death and criminal or mleccha disturbances are absent.