Shloka 121
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
Devanagari script
सूर्यानुगामिभिस्तात ऋषिभिस्तैर्महात्मभि:
Transliteration
sūryānugāmibhis tāta ṛṣibhis tair mahātmabhiḥ
Translation
सूर्यानुगामिभिस्तात ऋषिभिस्तैर्महात्मभिः ॥
Word by Word
सूर्यानुगामिभिःby/with (those) following the sun
सूर्यानुगामिभिः:
Karana
TypeAdjective
Rootसूर्यानुगामिन्
FormMasculine, Instrumental, Plural
तातO dear one / O son
तात:
Adhikarana
TypeNoun
Rootतात
FormMasculine, Vocative, Singular
ऋषिभिःby/with sages
ऋषिभिः:
Karana
TypeNoun
Rootऋषि
FormMasculine, Instrumental, Plural
तैःby/with those
तैः:
Karana
TypePronoun
Rootतद्
FormMasculine, Instrumental, Plural
महात्मभिःby/with great-souled ones
महात्मभिः:
Karana
TypeNoun
Rootमहात्मन्
FormMasculine, Instrumental, Plural
Speaker
भीष्म उवाच
Characters & Entities
B
BhīṣmaT
the Sun (Sūrya)Ṛ
ṛṣis (sages)Character Dynamics
Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)
Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)
Philosophical Teaching
Political Layer
Geographic Context
Meter (Chandas)
Sandhi Notes
Educational Q&A
The line highlights the authority and sanctity of great sages whose conduct is aligned with the Sun’s course—symbolically, with cosmic order (ṛta/dharma). It suggests that dharmic practice is validated by those who live in harmony with the rhythms of the cosmos.
Bhīṣma, in instruction to his listener (addressed affectionately as “tāta”), refers to a group of noble sages characterized as “followers of the Sun,” using them as authoritative witnesses or exemplars within his ongoing discourse in the Śānti Parva.