Shloka 37

Indrajit’s Binding, Restoration by Viśalyā, and Counsel Restraining Rāvaṇa (Āraṇyaka Parva 273)

Devanagari script

चतुर्युगसहस्रान्ते सलिलेनाप्लुता मही । ततो नारायणाख्यस्तु सहस्राक्ष: सहस्रपात्‌

Transliteration

caturyugasahasrānte salilenāplutā mahī | tato nārāyaṇākhyastu sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt |

Translation

நான்கு யுகங்களின் ஆயிரம் சுழற்சிகள் முடிவில் பூமி நீரால் மூழ்கியது. அப்போது ‘நாராயணன்’ எனப் புகழ்பெற்ற—ஆயிரம் கண்களும் ஆயிரம் பாதங்களும் உடைய—அந்தப் பரம்பொருள் தோன்றினார்.

Word by Word

चतुर्युगसहस्रान्तेat the end of a thousand four-yugas

सलिलेनwith water

आप्लुताflooded, inundated

महीthe earth

ततःthen, thereafter

नारायणाख्यःnamed Nārāyaṇa

तुindeed, but

सहस्राक्षःthe thousand-eyed one

सहस्रपात्the thousand-footed one

Speaker

भीमसेन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīmasena (speaker)

Mahī (Earth)

Salila (cosmic waters/flood)

Nārāyaṇa

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames dharma within cosmic time: even when the world is dissolved at the end of immense cycles, the all-pervading Nārāyaṇa remains the sustaining reality. Ethical order is thus not merely social convention but rooted in a transcendent, enduring principle.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīma recounts a cosmological scene: after a vast period (a thousand four-yuga cycles), the earth is flooded, and Nārāyaṇa is described in grand, universal terms (‘thousand-eyed, thousand-footed’), signaling a theophany-like depiction of the divine presence during dissolution.