Shloka 20
Adhyāya 60: Devagaṇa–Ṛṣi–Prajāpatīnāṃ Sambhavaḥ
Origins of Divine Classes, Sages, and Progenitors
पितामहानां सर्वेषां दैवेनानिष्टचेतसाम् । कार्त्स्न्येनितन्ममाचक्ष्व यथावृत्तं द्विजोत्तम,द्विजश्रेष्ठट जान पड़ता है, प्रारब्धने ही प्रेरणा करके मेरे सब प्रपितामहोंके मनको युद्धरूपी अनिष्टमें लगा दिया था। उनके इस सम्पूर्ण वृत्तानन््तका आप यथावत् रूपसे वर्णन करें
pitāmahānāṁ sarveṣāṁ daivenāniṣṭa-cetasām | kārtsnyenaitanmamācakṣva yathāvṛttaṁ dvijottama ||
قال جاناميجايا: «يا أفضلَ البراهمةِ المولودينَ مرتين، حدِّثني على التمام، كما وقع حقًّا، بكلِّ الخبر: كيف صرفت الأقدارُ عقولَ جميعِ أسلافي إلى ما لا يُرتجى—إلى كارثةِ الحرب.»
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the Mahābhārata’s ethical tension between human agency and daiva (fate): catastrophic conflict arises when minds are drawn toward aniṣṭa (harm), and the listener seeks a truthful, complete account to understand causality and responsibility.
King Janamejaya requests the sage to narrate, in full and exactly as it happened, how his ancestors’ minds became inclined toward the disastrous course that culminated in war, setting up a detailed recounting of antecedent events.