HV 115.1
ततस् तेषूपविष्टेषु सदस्यैः सह शौनकः । उक्तो ऽयं हरिवंशस् ते पर्वाणि निखिलानि च । यथा पुरोक्तानि तथा व्यासशिष्येण धीमता ॥
tatas teṣūpaviṣṭeṣu sadasyaiḥ saha śaunakaḥ | ukto 'yaṃ harivaṃśas te parvāṇi nikhilāni ca | yathā puroktāni tathā vyāsaśiṣyeṇa dhīmatā
Then, when the sacrificers had seated themselves together, Śaunaka (was addressed): 'This Harivaṃśa has been told to you, with all its parvans entire, just as first declared, by the wise disciple of Vyāsa.'
The Living Words
*Ukto 'yaṃ harivaṃśas te parvāṇi nikhilāni ca*: 'this Harivaṃśa, all its parvans entirely, has been told to you.' *Yathā puroktāni tathā*: 'just as previously declared, so (told)' — the chain of transmission is preserved. *Vyāsa-śiṣyeṇa dhīmatā*, 'by the wise disciple of Vyāsa' — Vaiśampāyana, who received it from Vyāsa and has passed it on.
The Heart of It
The verse is the scripture's own colophon-like declaration, embedded in the body of the text. Notice what it does not say: it does not claim originality; it does not claim completion. It says 'just as previously declared, so told.' The Harivaṃśa's theology of scripture is conservative in the root sense: it conserves what came before. Nothing in the Harivaṃśa is a new revelation; everything is a relay. The Varkari tradition's humility about its own originality — Jñāneśvar saying he is repeating what his guru received, not what he has invented — is continuous with this. Scripture's highest authority is not novelty but faithful transmission.