Mahabharata — Ashvamedhika Parva, Shloka 13
Brahmā’s Enumeration of Primacies (Ādi) and the Supremacy of Knowledge
Jñāna
पर्वतानां महामेरु: सर्वेषामग्रज: स्मृत: । दिशां च प्रदिशां चोर्ध्व॑ दिक्पूर्वा प्रथणा तथा
parvatānāṃ mahāmeruḥ sarveṣām agrajaḥ smṛtaḥ | diśāṃ ca pradiśāṃ cordhvaṃ dik pūrvā prathanā tathā ||
ਵਾਯੁ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਸਾਰੇ ਪਹਾੜਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਮਹਾਮੇਰੂ ਅਗਰਜ ਅਤੇ ਸ਼੍ਰੇਸ਼ਠ ਮੰਨਿਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ; ਅਤੇ ਦਿਸ਼ਾਵਾਂ ਤੇ ਉਪਦਿਸ਼ਾਵਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੂਰਬ ਦਿਸ਼ਾ ਨੂੰ ਪਹਿਲੀ—ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਤੇ ਆਦਿ—ਮੰਨਿਆ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ।
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts an ordered hierarchy in the cosmos as preserved by tradition: just as Mahāmeru is held to be the foremost among mountains, the eastern direction is treated as the primary among directions. It frames ‘primacy’ as a recognized, inherited standard (smṛti) rather than a personal preference.
Vāyudeva is speaking and is describing cosmological precedence—identifying Mahāmeru as the first/foremost mountain and the East as the chief direction—likely to ground a discussion of orientation, auspiciousness, or ritual/normative order within the Ashvamedhika Parva context.