Shloka 16

Devanagari script

पित्र्ये राग्यहनी मास: प्रविभागस्तयो: पुनः । शुक्लो5ह: कर्मचेष्टायां कृष्ण: स्पप्नाय शर्वरी,मनुष्योंके एक मासमें पितरोंका एक दिन-रात होता है। शुक्लपक्ष उनके काम-काज करनेके लिये दिन है और कृष्णपक्ष उनके विश्रामके लिये रात है

Transliteration

pitrye rātryahani māsaḥ pravibhāgas tayoḥ punaḥ | śuklo 'haḥ karmaceṣṭāyāṃ kṛṣṇaḥ svapnāya śarvarī ||

Translation

व्यास सांगतात—पितृलोकात मनुष्यांचा एक मास म्हणजे त्यांचा एक दिवस-रात्र. तेथे शुक्लपक्ष हा त्यांचा दिवस—कर्मचेष्टेसाठी; आणि कृष्णपक्ष ही त्यांची रात्र—विश्रांती व निद्रेसाठी.

Word by Word

पित्र्येin/for the Pitṛs (manes)

रात्र्यहनीnight and day (a day-night pair)

मासःa month

प्रविभागःdivision, allocation

तयोःof those two (of the two halves)

पुनःagain; further

शुक्लःbright (fortnight)

अहःday

कर्मचेष्टायाम्in activity/work-effort

कृष्णःdark (fortnight)

स्वप्नायfor sleep/rest

शर्वरीnight

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

Pitṛs (ancestors)

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?

Time is relative across realms: the Pitṛs experience a different day-night cycle, where a human month equals their full day and night. This frames human observances within a broader dharmic cosmos and encourages disciplined, timely performance of duties and ancestral rites.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa is instructing about cosmological time-reckoning connected with the ancestors (Pitṛs), explaining that the bright fortnight corresponds to their active daytime and the dark fortnight to their restful night.