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Shloka 43

Adhyaya 4Jaimini Meets the Dharmapakshis: Four Doubts on the Mahabharata and the Opening of Narayana Doctrine

आपो नाराऽ इति प्रोक्ता मुनिभिस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ।

अयनं तस्य ताः पूर्वं तेन नारायणः स्मृतः ॥

āpo nārā iti proktā munibhis tattvadarśibhiḥ | ayanaṃ tasya tāḥ pūrvaṃ tena nārāyaṇaḥ smṛtaḥ ||

തത്ത്വദർശികളായ ഋഷിമാർ ജലങ്ങളെ ‘നാരാ’ എന്നു വിളിക്കുന്നു. ആ ജലങ്ങളാണ് പൂർവകാലത്ത് അവന്റെ ആശ്രയസ്ഥാനം/ശയനസ്ഥാനം (അയനം) ആയിരുന്നതിനാൽ, അവൻ ‘നാരായണൻ’ എന്നു സ്മരിക്കപ്പെടുന്നു।

āpaḥwaters
āpaḥ:
Karta (कर्ता) of implied ‘are’ in definition
TypeNoun
Rootāp (प्रातिपदिक)
FormFeminine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural; ‘waters’
nārāḥ(called) ‘nārāḥ’
nārāḥ:
Pratipādya (predicate nominal)
TypeNoun
Rootnārā (प्रातिपदिक)
FormFeminine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural; ‘nārāḥ’ (name/term for waters)
itithus/‘so’
iti:
Vākyārtha-dyotaka (वाक्यार्थद्योतक)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootiti (अव्यय)
FormIndeclinable quotative particle (उद्धरण)
proktāḥwere called
proktāḥ:
Kriyā (क्रिया) (passive predicate)
TypeVerb
Root√vac (धातु) + ukta (कृदन्त; क्त)
FormPast passive participle (क्त), Feminine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural; agrees with āpaḥ; ‘were said/called’
munibhiḥby sages
munibhiḥ:
Karaṇa (करण) / Agent-instrument in passive
TypeNoun
Rootmuni (प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine, Instrumental (3rd/तृतीया), Plural; ‘by sages’
tattva-darśibhiḥby truth-seeing (sages)
tattva-darśibhiḥ:
Karaṇa (करण) / Agent-instrument in passive
TypeNoun
Roottattva + darśin (प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine, Instrumental (3rd/तृतीया), Plural; tatpuruṣa: ‘seers of truth’ qualifying munibhiḥ
ayanamabode/resting-place
ayanam:
Pratipādya (predicate nominal) in definition
TypeNoun
Rootayana (प्रातिपदिक)
FormNeuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular; ‘abode/resting-place/going’
tasyaof him/of that
tasya:
Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
TypeNoun
Roottad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine/Neuter, Genitive (6th/षष्ठी), Singular; ‘of him/of that’ (of Nara/waters)
tāḥthose (waters)
tāḥ:
Karta (कर्ता) of implied ‘were’ in apposition
TypeNoun
Roottad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
FormFeminine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural; refers to āpaḥ (‘those waters’)
pūrvamformerly/at first
pūrvam:
Kāla-adhikaraṇa (कालाधिकरण)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootpūrvam (अव्यय/प्रातिपदिक)
FormIndeclinable adverb (कालवाचक) ‘formerly/at first’
tenatherefore/by that
tena:
Hetu (हेतु) / instrumental of reason
TypeNoun
Roottad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine/Neuter, Instrumental (3rd/तृतीया), Singular; ‘therefore/by that’
nārāyaṇaḥNārāyaṇa
nārāyaṇaḥ:
Karta (कर्ता) of smṛtaḥ (grammatical subject)
TypeNoun
Rootnārāyaṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular; tatpuruṣa: nārāṇām ayanam → nārāyaṇa (‘whose abode is the waters’)
smṛtaḥis called/remembered
smṛtaḥ:
Kriyā (क्रिया) (passive predicate)
TypeVerb
Root√smṛ (धातु) + ta (कृदन्त; क्त)
FormPast passive participle (क्त), Masculine, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular; ‘is remembered/called’
Not specified in the input excerpt (likely within the Purāṇic narrator’s discourse in early chapters)

{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "adbhuta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

Nārāyaṇa (Vishnu)
CosmologyTheology of names (nirukti/etymology)Primordial watersVaishnava conceptions

FAQs

The verse teaches that sacred names encode metaphysical insight: Nārāyaṇa is not merely a personal label but a doctrinal pointer to the primordial condition (cosmic waters) and the Lord’s transcendence/immanence as the ground and refuge of creation.

Primarily Sarga (creation/cosmogony): it references the primordial waters as an early cosmological principle and connects the deity’s epithet to the pre-creation or initial-creation milieu.

“Waters” can symbolize the undifferentiated causal state (avyakta/prakṛti-like potentiality) from which forms emerge. Calling the Lord ‘He whose resting-place is the waters’ suggests mastery over, and repose within, the causal continuum—i.e., consciousness abiding in the unmanifest while remaining the source of manifestation.