Shloka 5
मन्दर-समुद्रमन्थन-वर्णनम् / Description of the Churning of the Ocean with Mount Mandara
पुरा देवयुगे ब्रह्मन् प्रजापतिसुते शुभे । आस्तां भगिन्यौ रूपेण समुपेते5द्भुतेडनघ
purā devayuge brahman prajāpatisute śubhe | āstāṁ bhaginyau rūpeṇa samupete 'dbhute 'nagha ||
Śaunaka nói: “Thuở xưa, trong thời đại của chư thiên, hỡi Bà-la-môn, có hai chị em gái cát tường, là ái nữ của Prajāpati—vô tì vết và kỳ diệu—cả hai đều được phú cho dung sắc phi thường.”
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a traditional itihāsa-style lesson: extraordinary qualities (beauty, auspiciousness) are presented within a moral universe where characters are also evaluated ethically (anagha, “blameless”). It signals that lineage and virtue are both important lenses for understanding later events.
Śaunaka begins recounting an ancient episode set in the “age of the gods,” introducing two unnamed sisters, daughters of Prajāpati, described as wondrously beautiful and blameless—setting the stage for the story that follows.