Shloka 38
Āścarya-kathana: Brāhmaṇa–Nāga Dialogue on Sūrya (Vivasvat) and the ‘Second Sun’ Phenomenon
तत:ः शड्खपदश्चापि पुत्रमात्मजमौरसम् । दिशां पाल॑ सुवर्णाभमध्यापयत भारत । सोडचन्तर्दथे ततो भूय: प्राप्ते त्रेतायुगे पुन:
tataḥ śaṅkhapadaś cāpi putram ātmajam aurasam | diśāṃ pālaṃ suvarṇābham adhyāpayata bhārata | so 'ntardadhe tato bhūyaḥ prāpte tretāyuge punaḥ, bhārata, sa dharmaḥ punar luptaḥ abhavat ||
اے بھارت! پھر شنکھپد نے بھی اپنے جائز بیٹے—دِشاؤں کے پالک سوورنابھ—کو اس دھرم کا مطالعہ کرایا۔ اس کے بعد وہ دھرم پردۂ غیب میں چلا گیا؛ اور جب دوبارہ تریتا یُگ آیا تو وہی دھرم پھر سے گمنامی میں پڑ گیا۔
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is preserved through deliberate instruction and lineage, yet it can still become obscured across the cycles of time (yugas). The verse highlights both the responsibility to transmit righteous knowledge and the recurring historical pattern of its decline.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that Śaṅkhapada teaches the Dharma to his own son Suvarṇābha, who is described as a guardian of the directions. After completing this transmission, Śaṅkhapada disappears; later, with the advent of the Tretā Yuga, that Dharma again becomes lost from view.