Shloka 13
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament and Kṛṣṇa’s Rudra-Cosmogony Explanation (सौप्तिक पर्व, अध्याय १७)
हरिकेशस्तथेत्युक्त्वा भूतानां दोषदर्शिवान् | दीर्घकालं तपस्तेपे मग्नो5म्भसि महातपा:
harikeśas tathety uktvā bhūtānāṁ doṣa-darśivān | dīrgha-kālaṁ tapas tepe magno ’mbhasi mahā-tapāḥ | so ’bravīt pitaraṁ dṛṣṭvā giriśaṁ suptam ambhasi | yadi me nāgrajo ’sty anyas tataḥ sraṣṭāmy ahaṁ prajāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana berkata: “Harikeśa, setelah menyahut ‘demikianlah’ dan sebagai seorang yang melihat kecacatan makhluk, melakukan tapa untuk waktu yang lama sambil tenggelam dalam air, seorang pertapa agung. Kemudian, setelah melihat ayahandanya dan menyaksikan Giriśa (Śiva) tidur di dalam air, dia berkata: ‘Jika tiada yang lebih tua daripadaku, maka aku akan mencipta makhluk-makhluk.’”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links creative authority with rightful precedence and inner discipline: before claiming the power to generate beings, the speaker grounds his claim in tapas (austerity) and in the question of whether any elder authority exists. It reflects the ethical idea that power—especially creative or governing power—should be exercised only with legitimacy and self-mastery.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that Harikeśa undertakes long austerities while submerged in water. Afterward, he sees his father (understood in the given gloss as Brahmā) and sees Śiva (Giriśa) asleep in the waters, and he declares that if no one is senior to him, he will proceed to create living beings (prajā).