Shloka 13

Gopradāna-phalasaṃprāpti: Nāciketa’s Vision of Vaivasvata’s Realms (गोप्रदानफलसम्प्राप्तिः — नाचिकेतोपाख्यानम्)

Devanagari script

अन्नौषध्यो महाराज वीरुधश्चव॒ जलोदभवा: । यतः प्राणभृतां प्राणा: सम्भवन्ति विशाम्पते

Transliteration

annauṣadhyo mahārāja vīrudhaś ca jalodbhavāḥ | yataḥ prāṇabhṛtāṃ prāṇāḥ sambhavanti viśāmpate ||

Translation

毗湿摩说道：“大王啊，食物与药草，以及草木与藤蔓，皆由水而生；正因这些，众生的生命之息得以生起并得滋养，噢，人民之主。确然，苏摩——天界威力之众中的主宰——亦由水而显现。甘露（amṛta）、苏陀（sudhā）、祭献之辞‘svāhā’与‘svadhā’，以及食物、药草、青草与藤蔓，皆出于水；凭借它们，一切生类之命得以发生并得以养育。”

Word by Word

• {'anna': 'food, grain

• sustenance', 'auṣadhi': 'medicinal herb

• healing plant', 'vīrudh': 'plant, herb, grass (esp. non-woody vegetation)', 'jalodbhava': 'born from water

• arising out of water', 'yataḥ': 'from which

• because of which', 'prāṇabhṛt': 'living being

• one who bears life (lit. ‘life-supported’)', 'prāṇa': 'life-breath

• vital force', 'sambhavanti': 'come into being

• are produced', 'viśāmpati': 'lord of the people

• king (address to Yudhiṣṭhira)', 'mahārāja': 'great king', 'soma': 'Soma (deity/moon

• also the sacred Soma-essence)', 'amṛta': 'immortality-giving nectar

• ambrosia', 'sudhā': 'nectar

• ambrosial essence', 'svāhā': 'ritual exclamation for offerings to the gods', 'svadhā': 'ritual exclamation/oblation associated with Pitṛs (ancestors)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Yudhiṣṭhira (implied by addresses mahārāja/viśāmpati/prajānātha)
• Soma
• Water (jala)
• Amṛta
• Sudhā
• Svāhā
• Svadhā
• Food (anna)
• Medicinal herbs (auṣadhi)
• Grasses/plants (vīrudh)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Water is presented as the fundamental source of nourishment and vitality: from water arise food and medicinal plants, which in turn sustain the prāṇa (life-force) of all beings. The verse also links water to sacred and ritual realities (Soma, amṛta, svāhā, svadhā), implying an ethical duty to honor, protect, and rightly use water as a dharmic resource.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs King Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and right conduct. Here he emphasizes the cosmic and practical importance of water, describing it as the origin of vegetation, food, medicines, and even sacred substances and ritual formulas—thereby grounding moral instruction in the life-sustaining order of the world.