Shloka 30

भूमिभार-निवारणप्रसङ्गः (Bhūmibhāra-nivāraṇa-prasaṅgaḥ) — The Motif of Relieving Earth’s Burden

Devanagari script

यथा कथिततवान ब्रह्मन्‌ प्रमति: पूर्वजस्तव । पुत्राय रुरवे प्रीत: पृच्छते भार्गवोत्तम,ब्रह्मन! भूगुवंशशिरोमणे! आपके पूर्वज प्रमतिने अपने पुत्र रुकुके पूछनेपर जिस प्रकार आस्तीकोपाख्यान कहा था और जिसे मैंने भी सुना था, उसी प्रकार विद्वान्‌ महात्मा आस्तीकके मंगलमय चरित्रका मैंने प्रारम्भसे ही वर्णन किया है

Transliteration

yathā kathitavān brahman pramatiḥ pūrvajas tava | putrāya rurave prītaḥ pṛcchate bhārgavottama ||

Translation

О брахман, как твой предок Прамати — обрадованный вопросом своего сына Руру — поведал это сказание, так и я излагаю его тем же образом, о лучший из рода Бхригу. Суть — в верности подлинной линии передачи учения: священное повествование следует передавать точно, с благожелательностью и в ответ на искренний вопрос.

Word by Word

• {'yathā': 'just as

• in the manner that', 'kathitavān': 'has told

• narrated (perfect participle of √kath)', 'brahman': 'O Brahmin

• vocative address to a learned priest/sage', 'pramatiḥ': 'Pramati (proper name), a sage/ancestor in the lineage', 'pūrvajaḥ': 'ancestor

• one born earlier', 'tava': 'your', 'putrāya': 'to (his) son

• for the son (dative)', 'rurave': 'to Ruru (dative of Ruru, proper name)', 'prītaḥ': 'pleased

• affectionate', 'pṛcchate': 'to one who asks

• upon being asked (locative/causal sense in context from √prach)', 'bhārgavottama': 'O best of the Bhārgavas (descendants of Bhṛgu)

Speaker

आस्तीक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Āstīka
• Pramati
• Ruru
• Bhārgava (lineage of Bhṛgu)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Sacred history should be transmitted faithfully through a trustworthy lineage, and genuine learning arises when a sincere question is met with a pleased, careful narration—linking ethical authority to accurate remembrance and responsible speech.

What is happening in the narrative?

Āstīka addresses a Brahmin and frames his own telling as consistent with an earlier telling by the ancestor-sage Pramati to his son Ruru, emphasizing that the present account follows the established tradition of the story’s transmission.