Shloka 5

Bhārata-varṣa-varṇana

Description of Bhārata: Mountains, Rivers, and Janapadas

Devanagari script

चत्वारि तु सहस्राणि वर्षाणां कुरुसत्तम | आयु:संख्या कृतयुगे संख्याता राजसत्तम,कुरुश्रेष्ठ! नृपप्रवर! सत्ययुगके लोगोंकी आयुका मान चार हजार वर्ष है

Transliteration

cattvāri tu sahasrāṇi varṣāṇāṁ kurusattama | āyuḥsaṅkhyā kṛtayuge saṅkhyātā rājasattama ||

Translation

സഞ്ജയൻ പറഞ്ഞു—ഹേ കുരുശ്രേഷ്ഠാ, ഹേ രാജശ്രേഷ്ഠാ! കൃത (സത്യ) യുഗത്തിൽ മനുഷ്യരുടെ ആയുസ്സിന്റെ അളവ് നാലായിരം വർഷമെന്നു കണക്കാക്കപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നു.

Word by Word

चत्वारिfour

तुindeed/but

सहस्राणिthousands

वर्षाणाम्of years

कुरु-सत्तमO best of the Kurus

आयुः-संख्याthe measure/number of lifespan

कृत-युगेin the Kṛta-yuga

संख्याताis reckoned/has been stated

राज-सत्तमO best of kings

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Kuru (dynasty/lineage)

Kṛta Yuga (Satya Yuga)

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 presents a traditional yuga-based measure of human longevity: in the Kṛta/Satya Yuga, lifespan is said to be four thousand years, illustrating the idea that human capacities decline across successive ages.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya addresses a Kuru king with honorific epithets and states a cosmological datum about the Kṛta Yuga, as part of a broader explanatory passage on yugas and their characteristics.