Shloka 21
Pitāmaha-sabhā-varṇana & Hariścandra-māhātmya
Description of Brahmā’s Assembly and the Eminence of Hariścandra
शब्दस्पर्शों तथा रूप॑ रसो गन्धश्ष भारत । प्रकृतिश्न विकारश्न यच्चान्यत् कारणं भुव:
śabda-sparśau tathā rūpaṁ raso gandhaś ca bhārata | prakṛtiś ca vikāraś ca yac cānyat kāraṇaṁ bhuvaḥ ||
Nārada berkata: “Wahai Bharata, bunyi dan sentuhan, rupa, rasa dan bau—bersama Prakṛti (Hakikat Asal) dan segala perubahannya, serta apa jua sebab lain bagi terbentuknya dunia—(setiap prinsip ini berada di bawah naungan dewa yang memerintahnya).”
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the world as arising from fundamental principles—sense-qualities (sound, touch, form, taste, smell) and the pair prakṛti (Nature) and vikāra (its evolutes)—implying an ordered cosmos where each domain has a governing principle/deity, encouraging a disciplined, reality-based understanding of existence.
Nārada is instructing the listener (addressed as ‘Bhārata’) by enumerating foundational constituents/causes of the world, as part of a broader explanatory discourse that links cosmic structure with the idea of presiding deities over these elements and qualities.