Shloka 46

Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

षडशीतिसहस्तराणि योजनानां नराधिप । यमलोकस्य चाध्वानमन्तरं मानुषस्य च,महाराज! मनुष्यलोक और यमलोकके मार्ममें छियासी हजार योजनोंका अन्तर है

Transliteration

ṣaḍaśītisahasrāṇi yojanānāṁ narādhipa | yamalokasya cādhvānam antaraṁ mānuṣasya ca, mahārāja ||

Translation

“O panginoon ng mga tao, dakilang hari—sa pagitan ng daigdig ng tao at ng kaharian ni Yama ay may layo na walumpu’t anim na libong yojana.”

Word by Word

षडशीतिसहस्त्राणिeighty-six thousand (units)

योजनानाम्of yojanas

नराधिपO king (lord of men)

यमलोकस्यof Yama's world

चand

अध्वानम्distance, path (extent)

अन्तरम्interval, difference

मानुषस्यof the human (world)

चand

महाराजO great king

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Yamaloka

Yama

Manuṣyaloka

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames the afterlife within a moral-cosmic order: Yama’s realm is not merely a mythic place but part of an ethical universe where actions have consequences, and the journey toward judgment is portrayed as vast and formidable.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana addresses a king and states a cosmological measure: the separation between the human world and Yama’s world is eighty-six thousand yojanas, emphasizing the scale of the path associated with death and post-mortem reckoning.