Varaha Purana 196.2: Adhyaya 196, Shloka 2

Description of the City of Dharmarāja

Yama

Uttara Bhāga · Dharmarāja-pura-varṇana (Dimensions of the City)

Devanagari script

नाचिकेत उवाच ॥ श्रूयतां द्विजशार्दूलाः कथ्यमानं मया द्विजाः ॥ योजनानां सहस्रं तु विस्ताराद्द्विगुणायतम् ॥

Recitation with translationVaraha Purana 196.2

Transliteration

nāciketa uvāca || śrūyatāṁ dvijaśārdūlāḥ kathyamānaṁ mayā dvijāḥ || yojanānāṁ sahasraṁ tu vistārād dviguṇāyatam

ITRANS transliteration

Translation

Nāciketa disse: «Ouvi, ó tigres entre os duas-vezes-nascidos; eu o descreverei, ó dvijas. Sua largura é de mil yojanas, e seu comprimento é o dobro disso».

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Word by Word

• nāciketaḥ: Nāciketa
• Type: Noun
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन
• Role: Karta (कर्ता)
• Root: nāciketa (प्रातिपदिक)

• uvāca: said
• Type: Verb
• Form: लिट् (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद
• Role: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Root: vac (धातु)

• śrūyatām: let it be heard
• Type: Verb
• Form: लोट् (Imperative), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन; आत्मनेपद; भावे/कर्मणि प्रयोगः (let it be heard)
• Role: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Root: śru (धातु)

• dvija-śārdūlāḥ: O tigers among the twice-born (Brahmins)
• Type: Noun
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; सम्बोधन (Vocative/सम्बोधन), बहुवचन; संबोधनपदम्
• Role: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन)
• Root: dvija (प्रातिपदिक) + śārdūla (प्रातिपदिक)

• kathyamānam: being told; being narrated
• Type: Verb
• Form: वर्तमानकाले कर्मणि कृदन्त (present passive participle/शानच्-प्रत्ययः), नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; ‘(इदं) कथ्यमानम्’
• Role: Karma (कर्म)
• Root: kath (धातु)

• mayā: by me
• Type: Noun
• Form: तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), एकवचन; सर्वनाम
• Role: Karaṇa (करण)
• Root: asmad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)

• dvijāḥ: O twice-born (ones)
• Type: Noun
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; सम्बोधन (Vocative), बहुवचन; पुनः संबोधन
• Role: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन)
• Root: dvija (प्रातिपदिक)

• yojanānām: of yojanas
• Type: Noun
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), बहुवचन
• Role: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/परिमाण-निर्देश)
• Root: yojana (प्रातिपदिक)

• sahasram: a thousand
• Type: Noun
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; परिमाणवाचक (a thousand)
• Role: Karma (कर्म/परिमाण)
• Root: sahasra (प्रातिपदिक)

• tu: indeed; but
• Type: Indeclinable
• Form: अव्यय; अवधान/विरोध/अन्वयार्थक (particle: 'but/indeed')
• Role: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Root: tu (अव्यय)

• vistārāt: in breadth; as to breadth (from the standpoint of breadth)
• Type: Noun
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; पञ्चमी (5th/Ablative), एकवचन
• Role: Apādāna (अपादान)
• Root: vistāra (प्रातिपदिक)

• dvi-guṇa-āyatam: twice as long; of double length
• Type: Adjective
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; विशेषणम् (of puram understood): ‘द्विगुणम् आयतम्’
• Role: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Root: dvi (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + guṇa (प्रातिपदिक) + āyata (प्रातिपदिक)

Sandhi Notes

• dvijaśārdūlāḥ = dvija-śārdūlāḥ (कर्मधारय)
• विस्ताराद्द्विगुणायतम् = विस्तारात् द्वि-गुण-आयतम् (त् + द् → द्द्)

Speaker and setting

Adbhuta and Shanta rasaSetting: Mythic city / afterlife geography

Speaker

Nāciketa

The teaching

Kind of teaching

Cosmological order (niyati)

Subjects

CosmologyMythic geographyMeasurement systems

Core idea

Even the afterlife realm is portrayed as structured and proportioned, implying moral-cosmic governance rather than chaos.

In practice

Cultivate dharma with the awareness that post-mortem experience is not random but governed by an intelligible order.

Cross references

Tags

• Classical Literature
• Ancient Metrology
• Purāṇic Cosmography
• Sanskrit Philology

FAQs

What is the historical significance of this verse?

It illustrates Purāṇic use of metrological language (yojana) to render cosmographic descriptions vivid and systematic.

Which geographic location is identified?

The passage describes Dharmarāja’s (Yama’s) city as a mythic/otherworldly space rather than a historically mappable terrestrial location.

What is the primary ethical instruction?

Indirectly, it prepares an imaginative setting for moral consequence narratives by describing the realm associated with judgment and order (dharma).