Verse 4.1

इमं विवस्वते योगं प्रोक्तवानहमव्ययम् ।

विवस्वान्मनवे प्राह मनुरिक्ष्वाकवेऽब्रवीत् ॥

4.1

Transliteration

imaṃ vivasvate yogaṃ proktavānahamavyayam |

vivasvānmanave prāha manurikṣvākave'bravīt ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

The Blessed Lord said I taught this imperishable Yoga to Vivasvan; he told it to Manu; Manu proclaimed it to Ikshvaku.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

this
to Vivasvan (the Sun)
yoga
taught
I
imperishable

Vivasvan
to Manu
taught
Manu
to Ikshvaku
told

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

The fourth chapter opens with Krishna placing his teaching in a long lineage. He taught this yoga first to Vivasvan, the sun, who passed it to Manu, the first lawgiver of humankind, who gave it to Ikshvaku, founder of the solar dynasty of kings. The teaching is thus presented not as something new invented for this crisis but as ancient and imperishable. The verse also contains a startling claim, that Krishna himself was the original teacher, which prepares for Arjuna's question and the revelation that follows.