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Shloka 44

Āstīka-janma: Vāsuki’s Consolation and the Birth/Naming of Āstīka (अस्तीकोत्पत्तिः)

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते आदिपर्वणि आस्तीकपर्वणि जनमेजयराज्याभिषेके चतुश्नत्वारिंशोध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate ādiparvaṇi āstīkaparvaṇi janamejayarājyābhiṣeke catuścatvāriṃśo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

So heißt es im Śrī Mahābhārata, im Ādi Parva—insbesondere im Āstīka Parva—dies ist das vierundvierzigste Kapitel, verbunden mit der königlichen Weihe (rājyābhiṣeka) des Königs Janamejaya. Die Zeile dient als Kolophon: Sie markiert feierlich den Abschluss des Kapitels und verortet die Erzählung in ihrem größeren textlichen und rituellen Rahmen.

Word by Word

इतिthus; end-quotation marker

श्रीमहाभारतेin the auspicious Mahābhārata

आदिपर्वणिin the Ādi-parvan (first book)

आस्तीकपर्वणिin the Āstīka-parvan (section)

जनमेजयराज्याभिषेकेin the consecration to kingship of Janamejaya

चतुश्चत्वारिंशःforty-fourth

अध्यायःchapter

Speaker

तक्षक उवाच

Characters & Entities

Mahābhārata

Ādi Parva

Āstīka Parva

Janamejaya

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This line is not a doctrinal verse but a structural colophon: it teaches how the Mahābhārata self-organizes its narration—anchoring events within parva and adhyāya divisions and linking them to the ritual-political frame of Janamejaya’s consecration and the broader Āstīka (snake-sacrifice) context.

What is happening in the narrative?

The chapter is being formally concluded. The text identifies its placement: in the Ādi Parva, within the Āstīka Parva, in the context of King Janamejaya’s rājyābhiṣeka, marking the end of the forty-fourth adhyāya.