Mahabharata 3.21.231 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 21, Shloka 231

Dvārakā’s Distress and the Saubha Engagement (द्वारकाव्यग्रता तथा सौभयुद्धम्)

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते वनपर्वणि अर्जुनाभिगमनपर्वणि सौभवधोपाख्याने एकविंशो<5ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi arjunābhigamanaparvaṇi saubhavadho'pākhyāne ekaviṃśo'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

وهكذا تنتهي الفصلُ الحادي والعشرون من «ڤانا پرفا» (Vana Parva) من «شري مهابهاراتا»، ضمن القسم المعنون «اقتراب/قدوم أرجونا» (Arjunābhigamana Parva)، في الحكاية الفرعية المعروفة بـ«قتل ساوبه» (Saubha-vadha).

Word by Word

• इति: thus; end-quote marker
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति

• श्रीमहाभारते: in the venerable Mahabharata
• श्रीमहाभारते: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्रीमहाभारत
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• वनपर्वणि: in the Forest Book (Vana Parva)
• वनपर्वणि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: वनपर्वन्
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• अर्जुनाभिगमनपर्वणि: in the section (parvan) called 'Arjuna's approach/arrival'
• अर्जुनाभिगमनपर्वणि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अर्जुनाभिगमनपर्वन्
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• सौभवधोपाख्याने: in the sub-tale called 'the slaying of Saubha'
• सौभवधोपाख्याने: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सौभवधोपाख्यान
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• एकविंशः: twenty-first
• Type: Adjective
• Root: एकविंश
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अध्यायः: chapter
• अध्यायः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अध्याय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śrī Mahābhārata
• Vana Parva
• Arjuna
• Saubha

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This line is a colophon rather than a doctrinal verse; its function is to preserve textual order and context, reminding the reader that episodes are nested within larger narrative units—an ethical-literary discipline of attentive reading and accurate transmission.

What is happening in the narrative?

The chapter concludes here. The colophon identifies the work (Mahābhārata), the book (Vana Parva), the internal section (Arjuna’s approach/arrival), and the embedded tale (Saubha-vadha), signaling that the twenty-first chapter has ended.