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 ||
毗湿摩波耶那说：随后，商迦钵陀也将此法授予自己的嫡子苏伐那婆（Suvarṇābha）——后来成为守护四方的护方神——令其研习此法，噢婆罗多。此后，它便隐没；而当特雷塔纪（Tretā-yuga）再度来临时，这同一法又一次陷入晦暗湮没之中。
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.