[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Epic, Poetry, Drama & Narrative](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit) › [The Mahābhārata and its versions](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata) › [The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) › 1.85.20 # The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 1.85.20 Mahābhārata 1.85.20 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### [1.85.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.1.85.20) catuṣpadā dvipadāḥ ṣaṭpadāśca tathābhūtā garbhabhūtā bhavanti | ākhyātametannikhilena sarvaṃ bhūyastu kiṃ pṛcchasi rājasiṃha || 20 || > "Ashtaka asked, 'After death, the body is burnt, or otherwise destroyed. Reduced to nothing upon such dissolution, by what principle is one revived?' Yayati said, 'O lion among kings, the person that dies assumes a subtil form; and retaining consciousness of all his acts as in a dream, he enters some other form with a speed quicker than that of air itself. The virtuous attain to a superior, and the vicious to an inferior form of existence. The vicious become worms and insects. I have nothing more to say, O thou of great and pure soul! I have told thee how beings are born, after development of embryonic forms, as four-footed, six-footed creatures and others with more feet. What more wilt thou ask me?' > — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - [Previous: 1.85.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.1.85.19) - [Next: 1.85.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.1.85.21) - [Up: 1.85](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.1.85) ## Translations (1) - [The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa~en-ganguli.1.90.9) — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, English ## Commentaries (5) - [Lakṣābharaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!vadiraja-laksabharana.54.20) — Vādirāja Sūri, Sanskrit - [Lakṣaślokālaṅkāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!vadiraja.60.20) — Vādirāja, Sanskrit - [Jñānadīpikā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!devabodha) — Devabodha, Sanskrit - [Bhāratabhāvadīpa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!nilakantha) — Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārataṭīkā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!nilakantha-mahabharatatika) — Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita, Sanskrit ## Other recensions (2) - [Southern recension](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*southern.1.84.20) — Sanskrit - [Vulgate (Nīlakaṇṭha's text)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*vulgate.1.90.20) — Sanskrit ## Linked texts (3) - [Matsyapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.matsya.39.20) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Matsya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.samhita.matsya.38.20) — Sanskrit - [Critical Studies in the Mahābhārata (V. S. Sukthankar Memorial Edition, Vol. I)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.sukthankar-1944.c7.s2.t2.121) — V. S. Sukthankar, English --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.1.85.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.1.85.20) · Pramāṇa