Study a Verse

• Śrīdhara Svāmī and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura both confirm that the brāhmaṇa mentioned here is Cāṇakya, also known as Kauṭilya or Vātsyāyana.
• The great historical narration Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which began with the events prior to the cosmic manifestation, now reaches into the realm of modern recorded history.
• Modern historians recognize both the Maurya dynasty and Candragupta, the king mentioned in the following verse.

The purport's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Civilizational dread → Dispassion. Social and cosmic impermanence expose the limits of worldly plans.

Chapters 1–4 of Canto 12: The deterioration of Kali and universal dissolution. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 1: The Degraded Dynasties of Kali-yuga

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Thereafter King Parīkṣit is bitten by the snake-bird Takṣaka and leaves this world. Sūta Gosvāmī concludes his narration of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya forest by enumerating the teachers of the various branches of the Vedas and Purāṇas, relating the pious history of Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi, glorifying the Supreme Lord in His universal form and in His expansion as the sun-god, summarizing the topics discussed in this literature, and offering final benedictions and prayers.