Shloka 59

Daṇḍotpatti-kathana (Origin and Function of Daṇḍa) — वसुहोम–मान्धातृ संवाद

Devanagari script

वे ही देवता, मनुष्य, नाग, असुर तथा राक्षसोंसहित सम्पूर्ण लोकोंके कर्ता तथा समस्त प्राणियोंके स्रष्टा हैं ।।

Transliteration

te hi devatā manuṣyā nāgā asurā tathā rākṣasaiḥ sahitāḥ samastalokānāṃ kartāraḥ tathā samastaprāṇināṃ sraṣṭāraḥ | tato 'nyo vyavahāro 'yaṃ bhartṛpratyayalakṣaṇaḥ | tasmād idam athovāca vyavahāranidarśanam |

Translation

毗湿摩说道：唯有彼为诸世界之造作者——连同诸天、人类、那伽、阿修罗与罗刹——亦为一切有情之创生者。由彼而起，又生一别样治世之道，其相在于依凭护持者（即王者之权威）。因此，为昭示此等公共秩序与裁断之理，彼遂宣说一则范式之言。

Word by Word

• {'te (te hi)': 'they/he indeed (emphatic reference to the supreme source)', 'devatāḥ': 'gods, divine beings', 'manuṣyāḥ': 'human beings', 'nāgāḥ': 'nāgas

• serpent/divine serpent beings', 'asurāḥ': 'asuras

• anti-gods, powerful non-divine beings', 'rākṣasāḥ': 'rākṣasas

• demons/ogre-like beings', 'sahitāḥ': 'together with, accompanied by', 'samasta-lokānām': 'of all worlds/realms', 'kartāraḥ': 'maker, doer, author (agent of creation/ordering)', 'samasta-prāṇinām': 'of all living beings', 'sraṣṭāraḥ': 'creator, progenitor', 'tataḥ': 'from that, thereafter', 'anyaḥ': 'another, different', 'vyavahāraḥ': 'worldly practice

• adjudication', 'bhartṛ-pratyaya-lakṣaṇaḥ': 'marked by reliance on a protector/maintainer (i.e., kingly authority as the basis of order)', 'tasmāt': 'therefore, for that reason', 'idam': 'this (statement/teaching)', 'atha uvāca': 'then he said', 'vyavahāra-nidarśanam': 'an illustration/model example of legal practice or public order'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• devatāḥ
• manuṣyāḥ
• nāgāḥ
• asurāḥ
• rākṣasāḥ
• samastalokāḥ
• samastaprāṇinaḥ

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Order in society (vyavahāra—governance and legal procedure) is grounded in a higher cosmic source; legitimate authority functions as a ‘protector’ (bhartṛ), and reliance on such protective rulership becomes the basis for enforcing dharma and maintaining public order.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva discourse on rājadharma, Bhīṣma explains to Yudhiṣṭhira that the creator of all beings also established a distinct system of worldly governance and adjudication. He introduces an exemplary statement meant to illustrate how this system of public order operates.