Shloka 2

Adhyāya 6: Pañca-mahābhūta–guṇa-nirdeśa and Sudarśana-dvīpa

Five Elements, Sensory Qualities, and a Cosmographic Island

Devanagari script

यावान्‌ भूम्यवकाशो<यं दृश्यते शशलक्षणे । तस्य प्रमाण प्रब्रूहि ततो वक्ष्यसि पिप्पलम्‌,चन्द्रमाके शश-चिह्ममें भूमिका जितना अवकाश दृष्टिगोचर होता है, उसका प्रमाण बताओ। तत्पश्चात्‌ पिप्पलस्थानका वर्णन करना

Transliteration

dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca |

yāvān bhūmy-avakāśo 'yaṃ dṛśyate śaśa-lakṣaṇe |

tasya pramāṇaṃ prabrūhi tato vakṣyasi pippalam ||

Translation

ധൃതരാഷ്ട്രൻ പറഞ്ഞു—ഹേ ശശലക്ഷണനേ (ചന്ദ്രനേ)! ഭൂമിയുടെ മീതെ ദൃഷ്ടിഗോചരമാകുന്ന ആകാശാവകാശത്തിന്റെ അളവ് പറയുക. അതിന് ശേഷം പിപ്പലസ്ഥാനത്തെ എനിക്ക് വിവരിക്കൂ.

Word by Word

यावान्as great as; as much as

भूमि-अवकाशःspace/extent of the earth (earth-space)

अयम्this

दृश्यतेis seen; appears

शश-लक्षणेin/at the moon marked with a hare (hare-marked orb)

तस्यof that; its

प्रमाणम्measure; extent; proof

प्रब्रूहिtell; declare

ततःthen; thereafter

वक्ष्यसिyou will say; you will describe

पिप्पलम्the pippala (sacred fig tree)

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Candra (the Moon, implied by śaśa-lakṣaṇa)

Pippala (sacred fig / pippala-place)

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 foregrounds disciplined inquiry (praśna) and the desire for precise knowledge (pramāṇa) before proceeding to sacred description, reflecting a classical ideal: understanding the measure and order of the world as a basis for meaningful narration about holy places and symbols.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛtarāṣṭra addresses the Moon (identified by the hare-mark) and asks it to quantify the visible expanse above the earth; once that is explained, he requests a description of the pippala-related sacred locus.