Shloka 13

Devanagari script

महाभूतविशालश्न विशेषयति शाखिन: । सदापत्र: सदापुष्प: शुभाशुभफलोदय:

Transliteration

mahābhūtaviśālaśna viśeṣayati śākhinaḥ | sadāpatraḥ sadāpuṣpaḥ śubhāśubhaphalodayaḥ ||

Translation

വായുദേവൻ പറഞ്ഞു—മഹാഭൂതങ്ങളുടെ ആ വിശാല വ്യാപ്തിയാണ് ഈ വൃക്ഷങ്ങളെ വേർതിരിച്ച് പ്രകടമാക്കുന്നത്. ഇത് സദാ ഇലകളോടെയും സദാ പുഷ്പങ്ങളോടെയും ഇരുന്നു, ശുഭവും അശുഭവും ആയ ഫലങ്ങളുടെ ഉദയം വരുത്തുന്നു.

Word by Word

महाभूतविशालश्नःone who eats vast (quantities) of great elements / very large eater

विशेषयतिdistinguishes / makes special

शाखिनःtrees (branch-bearing ones)

सदापत्रःever-leafed

सदापुष्पःever-flowering

शुभाशुभफलोदयःhaving the arising of auspicious and inauspicious fruits

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vāyu-deva

mahābhūtas (great elements)

trees (śākhinaḥ)

leaves (patra)

flowers (puṣpa)

fruits/results (phala)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses tree imagery to express moral causality: from the same living process arise different fruits—wholesome and unwholesome—implying that outcomes (phala) manifest according to conditions and conduct, and should be understood within dharma as consequences to be discerned and owned.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva is speaking and describing a cosmic-natural principle through metaphor: the vast elemental order differentiates living beings like trees, which continually bear leaves and flowers and then produce fruits of mixed quality—setting up reflection on how results arise in the world.