Shloka 8

अध्याय ३३७ — ज्ञानमार्ग-वैविध्यप्रश्नः तथा व्यासस्य नारायणोद्भवकथा

Systems of Knowledge and Vyāsa’s Nārāyaṇa-Origin

Devanagari script

ऋषि: शान्तिर्महाभागस्तथा वेदशिराशक्ष यः । ऋषिश्रेष्ठक्ष कपिल: शालिहोत्रपिता स्मृत:,इनके सिवा (तेरह सदस्य और थे, जिनके नाम इस प्रकार हैं--) धनुष, रैभ्य, अर्वावसु, परावसु, मुनिवर मेधातिथि, महर्षि ताण्ड्य, महाभाग शान्तिमुनि, वेदशिरा, शालिहोत्रके पिता ऋषिश्रेष्ठ कपिल, आद्यकठ, वैशम्पायनके बड़े भाई तैत्तिरि, कण्व और देवहोत्र। ये कुल मिलाकर सोलह सदस्य बताये गये हैं

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca | ṛṣiḥ śāntir mahābhāgas tathā vedaśirāś ca yaḥ | ṛṣiśreṣṭhaḥ kapilaḥ śālihotrapitā smṛtaḥ ||

Translation

അവരിൽ മഹാഭാഗനായ ഋഷി ശാന്തിയും, വേദശിരസ്സും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. ഋഷിശ്രേഷ്ഠനായ കപിലനും—ശാലിഹോത്രന്റെ പിതാവെന്നു സ്മരിക്കപ്പെടുന്നവൻ—അവിടെയുണ്ടായിരുന്നു.

Word by Word

ऋषिःsage

शान्तिःŚānti (name of a sage)

महाभागःhighly fortunate / illustrious

तथाand also / likewise

वेदशिराःVedaśiras (name; lit. 'head of the Veda')

चand

यःwho

ऋषिश्रेष्ठःbest of sages

कपिलःKapila (sage)

शालिहोत्रपिताfather of Śālihotra

स्मृतःis remembered / is known as

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Śānti (sage)

Vedaśiras

Kapila

Śālihotra

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?

Dharma is authenticated and clarified through the remembered authority of realized sages and their lineages; naming such rishis signals that ethical instruction rests on a recognized tradition of wisdom.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma is continuing an enumeration of distinguished sages (members of a larger group/assembly), identifying them by name and, in Kapila’s case, by a well-known genealogical marker (father of Śālihotra).