Shloka 21

आत्मदर्शन-उपदेशः (Ātma-darśana Upadeśa) — Mind, Senses, and the All-pervading Self

Devanagari script

संध्या और संध्यांशोंसहित अन्य तीन युगोंमें यह (चार हजार आठ सौ वर्षोकी) संख्या क्रमश: एक-एक चौथाई घटती जाती है-

Transliteration

sandhyā ca sandhyāṁśaiḥ sahitā anyeṣu triṣu yugeṣu idaṁ (catuḥsahasra-aṣṭaśata-varṣāṇāṁ) saṅkhyā kramaśaḥ eka-eka-caturthāṁśena hīyate

Translation

വ്യാസൻ പറഞ്ഞു—സന്ധ്യയും സന്ധ്യാംശവും ഉൾപ്പെട്ട ഈ യുഗമാനം മറ്റു മൂന്ന് യുഗങ്ങളിൽ ക്രമമായി ഓരോ തവണയും നാലിലൊന്ന് വീതം കുറയുന്നു.

Word by Word

संध्यायाम्in the twilight (sandhyā-period)

संध्यांशैःwith the twilight-portions

सहितेषुin (those) accompanied/including

अन्येषुin the other

त्रिषुin the three

युगेषुin the yugas/ages

इयम्this

संख्याnumber; count

क्रमशःsuccessively; in order

एकैकम्one by one; each single

चतुर्थांशम्a fourth part; one quarter

हीयतेis diminished; decreases

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

sandhyā

sandhyāṁśa

yuga

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that the durations of the yugas (including their transitional dawn/dusk periods) follow an ordered pattern of decline: starting from a stated total (here 4,800 years), each subsequent yuga is reduced by one quarter. This numerical scheme expresses an ethical idea—dharma and stability diminish as time moves through the ages.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Vyāsa is explaining the structure of cosmic time. He specifies how the measure assigned to one yuga, together with its sandhyā and sandhyāṁśa, becomes progressively smaller in the remaining three yugas by a fixed fractional reduction.