Shloka 31

पाण्डोः श्राद्धं, सत्यवत्याः वनगमनम्, बाल्यस्पर्धा च

Pāṇḍu’s Śrāddha, Satyavatī’s Withdrawal, and Childhood Rivalry

Devanagari script

पाण्डुरुवाच यदि व्यवसितं होतद्‌ युवयोर्धर्मसंहितम्‌ । स्ववृत्तिमनुवर्तिष्ये तामहं पितुरव्ययाम्‌,पाण्डुने कहा--देवियो! यदि तुम दोनोंका यही धर्मयुक्त निश्चय है तो (ठीक है, मैं संन्यास न लेकर वानप्रस्थाश्रममें ही रहूँगा तथा) आजसे अपने पिता वेदव्यासजीकी अक्षय फलवाली जीवनचर्याका अनुसरण करूँगा

Transliteration

Pāṇḍur uvāca yadi vyavasitaṃ hotad yuvayor dharmasaṃhitam | svavṛttim anuvartiṣye tām ahaṃ pitur avyayām ||

Translation

Pāṇḍu sagte: „Wenn dies wahrhaft der Entschluss ist, den ihr beide fest gefasst habt, im Einklang mit dem Dharma, dann werde ich von diesem Tage an eben diese Lebensweise befolgen—die unerschöpfliche, beständige Zucht meines Vaters.“

Word by Word

• {'Pāṇḍuḥ uvāca': 'Pāṇḍu said', 'yadi': 'if', 'vyavasitam': 'resolved, firmly determined', 'hotat (bhavet/etat)': 'indeed this (is/should be)

• emphatic ‘this’ (textual variant/Prakritized form)', 'yuvayoḥ': 'of you two', 'dharma-saṃhitam': 'in harmony with dharma

• sanctioned by righteousness', 'sva-vṛttim': 'one’s own mode of life, conduct, livelihood/discipline', 'anuvartiṣye': 'I shall follow, I shall conform to', 'tām': 'that (feminine

• referring to vṛtti/way of life)', 'aham': 'I', 'pituḥ': 'of (my) father', 'avyayām': 'imperishable, unfailing, inexhaustible'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Pāṇḍu
• the two queens/consorts (yuvayoḥ; addressed as ‘deviyo’ in the Hindi gloss)
• Pāṇḍu’s father (pituḥ; identified in the Hindi gloss as Vyāsa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A decision becomes ethically binding when it is ‘dharmasaṃhita’—aligned with righteousness. Pāṇḍu models moral leadership by accepting a dharma-based resolve and committing to a disciplined way of life grounded in ancestral precedent.

What is happening in the narrative?

Pāṇḍu responds to the two women addressed (his consorts), acknowledging their dharma-consistent determination. He declares that he will adopt and continue an enduring, ‘imperishable’ discipline associated with his father’s way of life, indicating a turn toward regulated, ascetic conduct rather than ordinary royal indulgence.