Shloka 196

Yuga-Lakṣaṇa and Varṣa-Pramāṇa Inquiry (युगलक्षण–वर्षप्रमाण–प्रश्न)

Devanagari script

यतः श्यामत्वमापन्ना: प्रजा जनपदेश्वर । जनपदेश्वर! वहाँ रहनेसे ही वहाँकी प्रजा श्यामताको प्राप्त हुई है

Transliteration

yataḥ śyāmatvam āpannāḥ prajā janapadeśvara |

Translation

ജനപദേശ്വരാ! അവിടെ വസിക്കുന്നതുകൊണ്ടുതന്നെ അവിടത്തെ പ്രജകൾ ശ്യാമവർണ്ണം പ്രാപിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു.

Word by Word

• यतः: from which; because of which
• यतः: Apadana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यतस्
• Form: Ablatival adverb (source/cause sense)

• श्यामत्वम्: darkness; dark complexion
• श्यामत्वम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्यामत्व
• Form: Neuter, nominative/accusative, singular

• आपन्नाः: having attained; having become
• आपन्नाः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: आपन्न
• Form: Past active participle (क्त), masculine, nominative, plural (agreeing with प्रजाः)

• प्रजाः: the people; subjects
• प्रजाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रजा
• Form: Feminine, nominative, plural

• जनपदेश्वर: O lord of the realm/country
• जनपदेश्वर: Sambodhana
• Type: Noun
• Root: जनपद-ईश्वर
• Form: Masculine, vocative, singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• janapadeśvara (the ruler addressed, i.e., Dhṛtarāṣṭra)
• prajāḥ (the subjects/people)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights causality in social description: a community’s observable traits are presented as arising from conditions of place and habitation, reminding a ruler to understand outcomes as effects of causes rather than mere labels.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya addresses the king as ‘lord of the realm’ and explains that the people of a certain region have become dark-complexioned specifically because they live there—an explanatory aside within his report.