Shloka 4
Vṛddha-kanyā-carita and Balarāma’s Kurukṣetra Inquiry (वृद्धकन्या-चरितम् / कुरुक्षेत्रफल-प्रश्नः)
जनमेजय उवाच कथं द्वादशवार्षिक्यामनावृष्ट्यां द्विजोत्तमान् । ऋषीनध्यापयामास पुरा सारस्वतो मुनि:
Janamejaya uvāca: kathaṁ dvādaśavārṣikyām anāvṛṣṭyāṁ dvijottamān ṛṣīn adhyāpayām āsa purā Sārasvato muniḥ?
قال جاناميجايا: «أيها الحكيم، في سالف الزمان، أثناء قحطٍ دام اثنتي عشرة سنة، كيف استطاع الحكيم ساراسفاتا أن يعلّم الفيدا لأجلّ البراهمة—أولئك التلاميذ من طلاب الرِّشي؟»
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical importance of preserving Vedic knowledge and teaching lineage even amid severe societal crisis (a prolonged drought), implying that dharma includes sustaining learning and guidance when conditions are hardest.
King Janamejaya asks the narrator-sage to explain an earlier episode: during a twelve-year drought, how the sage Sārasvata continued to teach the Vedas to eminent Brahmin seers.