Shloka 1
Bhārata-varṣa-varṇana
Description of Bhārata: Mountains, Rivers, and Janapadas
अपन का बछ। ] अतडडऑफ<ज दशमो< ध्याय: भारतवर्षमें युगोंके अनुसार मनुष्योंकी आयु तथा गुणोंका निरूपण धृतराष्ट्र रवाच भारतस्यास्य वर्षस्य तथा हैमवतस्य च । प्रमाणमायुष: सूत बल॑ चापि शुभाशुभम्,धृतराष्ट्रने कहा--संजय! तुम भारतवर्ष और हैमवतवर्षके लोगोंके आयुका प्रमाण, बल तथा भूत, भविष्य एवं वर्तमान शुभाशुभ फल बताओ। साथ ही हरिवर्षका भी विस्तारपूर्वक वर्णन करो
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca — bhāratasyāsya varṣasya tathā haimavatasya ca | pramāṇam āyuṣaḥ sūta balaṃ cāpi śubhāśubham ||
धृतराष्ट्र उवाच—भारतस्यास्य वर्षस्य तथा हैमवतस्य च । प्रमाणमायुषः सूत बलं चापि शुभाशुभम् ॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic-cosmological inquiry: human life (āyuḥ) and power (bala) are not merely personal traits but are understood in relation to time (yuga-like cycles) and to the moral texture of outcomes (śubha/āśubha). It signals that ethical causality and temporal conditions shape human flourishing.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra questions Sañjaya, asking him to describe the characteristics of people in Bhārata-varṣa and the Himalayan region—especially lifespan, strength, and the pattern of auspicious and inauspicious results—introducing a descriptive, world-order oriented discourse within Bhīṣma-parvan.