Shloka 34
Hanūmān’s Embrace, Counsel, and Promise to Amplify Bhīma’s Battle-Roar
Gandhamādana Continuation
तामसं युगमासाद्य कृष्णो भवति केशव: । वेदाचारा: प्रशाम्यन्ति धर्मयज्ञक्रियास्तथा,इस तमोगुणी युगको पाकर भगवान् विष्णुके श्रीविग्रहका रंग काला हो जाता है। वैदिक सदाचार, धर्म तथा यज्ञ-कर्म नष्ट हो जाते हैं
tāmasaṁ yugam āsādya kṛṣṇo bhavati keśavaḥ | vedācārāḥ praśāmyanti dharmayajñakriyās tathā ||
Wika ni Bhīma: “Kapag dumating ang madilim na panahong tamasiko, si Keśava (Viṣṇu) ay tinatawag na ‘Kṛṣṇa’—maitim ang anyo. Sa gayong panahon, humihina ang mabuting asal ayon sa Veda, at kasabay nito’y bumabagsak ang dharma at ang mga ritwal ng paghahandog at tungkuling panrelihiyon.”
भीम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links the onset of a tamasic age with the weakening of Vedic ethical discipline and the collapse of dharma and sacrificial/religious duties, portraying social and spiritual order as vulnerable to the dominance of tamas (darkness, inertia, confusion).
Bhīma is describing the characteristics of a degenerate epoch: as the tamasic yuga arrives, the world’s adherence to Vedic norms fades, and religious rites and dharmic practice diminish; he frames this decline with the epithet of Viṣṇu/Keśava as ‘Kṛṣṇa’ (dark-hued) in such a time.