Shloka 60

The Glory of Bhārata-varṣa: Enumerating Mountains, Rivers, and Regions

Devanagari script

उत्तराश्चापरेम्लेच्छा जना हि मुनिपुंगवाः । जवनाश्च सकांबोजा दारुणा म्लेच्छजातयः

Transliteration

uttarāścāparemlecchā janā hi munipuṃgavāḥ | javanāśca sakāṃbojā dāruṇā mlecchajātayaḥ

Translation

မြောက်ဘက်နှင့် အနောက်ဘက်ဒေသများတွင်၊ အို မုနိတို့အထဲမှ အမြတ်ဆုံး၊ ‘မလေစ္ဆ’ ဟုခေါ်သော လူမျိုးများ အမှန်တကယ်ရှိသည်; ယဝနတို့သည် ကမ္ဗောဇတို့နှင့်အတူ ကြမ်းတမ်း၍—ဤတို့သည် မလေစ္ဆ အစုအဖွဲ့များ ဖြစ်ကြသည်။

Word by Word

• uttarāḥ: Uttarās / northerners (a group name)
• uttarāḥ: Karta (कर्ता) — subject (enumerated group)
• Type: Noun
• Root: uttara (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (पुंलिङ्ग), Prathamā (प्रथमा) Bahuvacana (बहुवचन) — Nominative plural

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध) — connective
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: Samuccaya-nipāta (समुच्चय-निपात) — conjunction “and”

• apara-mlecchāḥ: other mlecchas (foreign tribes)
• apara-mlecchāḥ: Karta (कर्ता) — subject (enumerated group)
• Type: Noun
• Root: apara (प्रातिपदिक) + mleccha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (पुंलिङ्ग), Prathamā (प्रथमा) Bahuvacana (बहुवचन) — Nominative plural; कर्मधारयः: aparāḥ mlecchāḥ (“other mlecchas”)

• janāḥ: people
• janāḥ: Karta (कर्ता) — subject (appositional)
• Type: Noun
• Root: jana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (पुंलिङ्ग), Prathamā (प्रथमा) Bahuvacana (बहुवचन) — Nominative plural

• hi: indeed
• hi: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध) — discourse particle
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: hi (अव्यय)
• Form: Nipāta (निपात) — emphatic/causal particle “indeed/for”

• munipuṃgavāḥ: foremost sages
• munipuṃgavāḥ: Karta (कर्ता) — subject (predicate/apposition to janāḥ)
• Type: Noun
• Root: muni (प्रातिपदिक) + puṃgava (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (पुंलिङ्ग), Prathamā (प्रथमा) Bahuvacana (बहुवचन) — Nominative plural; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः: munīnām puṃgavāḥ (“bulls among sages” = foremost sages)

• javanāḥ: Yavanas (Ionians/Greeks; foreigners)
• javanāḥ: Karta (कर्ता) — subject (enumerated group)
• Type: Noun
• Root: javana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (पुंलिङ्ग), Prathamā (प्रथमा) Bahuvacana (बहुवचन) — Nominative plural

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध) — connective
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: Samuccaya-nipāta (समुच्चय-निपात) — conjunction “and”

• sa-kāṃbojāḥ: together with the Kāṃbojas / the Kāṃbojas as well
• sa-kāṃbojāḥ: Karta (कर्ता) — subject (enumerated group)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sa (अव्यय/उपसर्गवत्) + kāṃboja (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (पुंलिङ्ग), Prathamā (प्रथमा) Bahuvacana (बहुवचन) — Nominative plural; अव्ययीभावः: sa- (“with/together”) + kāṃbojāḥ (“Kāṃbojas”)

• dāruṇāḥ: fierce, cruel
• dāruṇāḥ: Karta (कर्ता) — adjectival to subject
• Type: Adjective
• Root: dāruṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Puṃliṅga (पुंलिङ्ग), Prathamā (प्रथमा) Bahuvacana (बहुवचन) — Nominative plural; viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण) to mlecchajātayaḥ

• mlecchajātayaḥ: mleccha tribes/peoples
• mlecchajātayaḥ: Karta (कर्ता) — subject (enumerated group)
• Type: Noun
• Root: mleccha (प्रातिपदिक) + jāti (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Strīliṅga (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Prathamā (प्रथमा) Bahuvacana (बहुवचन) — Nominative plural; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः: mlecchānāṃ jātayaḥ (“tribes/castes of mlecchas”)

Speaker

Not explicitly stated in the provided excerpt (likely within the Pulastya–Bhīṣma dialogue frame in this section).

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: adbhuta

Secondary Rasa: shanta

Geographic Context

Type: earthly

Sandhi Resolution Notes

Sandhi Resolution Notes: uttarāḥ + ca → uttarāśca; ca + apara- → cāpara-; apara + mlecchāḥ → aparemlecchāḥ; javanāḥ + ca → javanāśca; sa + kāṃbojāḥ → sakāṃbojāḥ.

Characters & Entities

• Mleccha
• Yavana
• Kāmboja

FAQs

What does this verse indicate about Purāṇic geography?

It classifies peoples by broad directions (north and west) and uses ethnonyms (Yavana, Kāmboja), reflecting a Purāṇic map that mixes geography with cultural-religious categorization.

Does the term “Mleccha” here mean a specific race or language group?

In Purāṇic usage, “Mleccha” is typically a cultural-religious label for groups seen as outside Vedic norms; it is not a precise modern ethnic category.

What is the ethical takeaway a reader should apply today?

The verse shows how texts may categorize communities through the lens of dharma and social norms; a careful reader should distinguish historical classification from universal ethical principles like non-harm and fairness.