Shloka 39

कुरुवंशप्रश्नः—दुःषन्तस्य राजधर्मवर्णनम्

Kuru Lineage Inquiry and the Portrait of King Duḥṣanta’s Rule

Devanagari script

तन्महाभारताख्यान श्रुत्वैव प्रविलीयते । भरतानां महज्जन्म महाभारतमुच्यते,दिनमें इन्द्रियों अथवा मनके द्वारा जो पाप बन जाता है अथवा मनुष्य जानकर या अनजानमें जो पाप कर बैठता है, वह सब महाभारतकी कथा सुनते ही नष्ट हो जाता है। इसमें भरतवंशियोंके महान्‌ जन्म-वृत्तान्तका वर्णन है, इसलिये इसको “महाभारत” कहते हैं

Transliteration

tan mahābhāratākhyānaṃ śrutvaiva pravilīyate | bharatānāṃ mahaj janma mahābhāratam ucyate ||

Translation

Vaiśaṃpāyana sprach: Schon durch das bloße Hören dieser großen Erzählung, die Mahābhārata heißt, löst sich Sünde auf. Weil sie die mächtige Geburt und die Geschichte der Abstammung der Bhāratas darlegt, wird sie daher „Mahābhārata“ genannt.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'tat', 'gloss': 'that

• this (referring to the present work)'}, {'term': 'mahābhārata-ākhyāna', 'gloss': 'the narrative (ākhyāna) called Mahābhārata'}, {'term': 'śrutvā eva', 'gloss': 'having heard, indeed

• merely by hearing'}, {'term': 'pravilīyate', 'gloss': 'melts away

• is destroyed (of sin/impurity)'}, {'term': 'bharatānām', 'gloss': 'of the Bharatas

• of the descendants of Bharata'}, {'term': 'mahat', 'gloss': 'great

• eminent'}, {'term': 'janma', 'gloss': 'birth

• genealogical account'}, {'term': 'mahābhāratam ucyate', 'gloss': 'is called ‘Mahābhārata’'}]

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśaṃpāyana
• Mahābhārata
• Bharatas (descendants of Bharata)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches the purificatory power of śravaṇa (listening): hearing the Mahābhārata is presented as spiritually cleansing, dissolving moral impurity, and it also explains the title as rooted in the ‘great’ account of the Bharata lineage.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator Vaiśaṃpāyana pauses to praise the Mahābhārata itself, stating its benefit (sins dissolve upon hearing) and giving an etymological rationale for its name: it is the great (mahat) account of the births/origins of the Bharatas.