Shloka 26

Devanagari script

ततो देवनिकायस्थो नारद: सर्वलोकवित्‌ | उवाचोच्चैस्तदा वाक्‍्यं बृहद्वादी बृहत्तपा:,उस समय सम्पूर्ण लोकोंका वृत्तान्त जाननेवाले, बोलनेमें कुशल तथा महान्‌ तपस्वी देवर्षि नारदजीने देवमण्डलमें स्थित हो उच्च स्वरसे कहा--

Transliteration

tato devanikāyastho nāradaḥ sarvalokavit | uvācoccais tadā vākyaṃ bṛhadvādī bṛhattapāḥ ||

Translation

Ketika itu Nārada—berada di tengah bala tentera dewa, mengetahui hal-ehwal semua alam, fasih bertutur dan besar tapa—mengangkat suaranya lalu berkata dengan lantang. Adegan ini menandakan bahawa yang bakal menyusul bukan khabar angin, melainkan suatu pengisytiharan yang bersandar pada pengetahuan kosmik dan wibawa moral.

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

देव-निकाय-स्थःstanding in the assembly/group of gods

नारदःNarada

सर्व-लोक-वित्knower of all worlds

उवाचsaid, spoke

उच्चैःaloud, loudly

तदाat that time

वाक्यम्speech, statement

बृहद्-वाडीgreat speaker, eloquent

बृहत्तपाःof great austerity

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Nārada

Devas (divine hosts/assemblies)

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?

The verse foregrounds the ethical weight of testimony: a statement delivered by a sage who is both all-knowing (sarvalokavit) and disciplined by austerity (bṛhattapāḥ) carries moral authority. It prepares the listener to treat the forthcoming message as aligned with dharma and the wider cosmic order.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana reports that Nārada, present among the gods, speaks out loudly. This functions as a narrative cue that an important announcement or judgment is about to be made, witnessed in a divine setting rather than a private human conversation.