Shloka 21
Uttanka’s Viśvarūpa Request and the ‘Uttanka Clouds’ Boon (उत्तङ्क-विष्वरूप-दर्शनम्)
उत्तड़कमुनिकी श्रीकृष्णसे विश्वरूप दिखानेके लिये प्रार्थना भयं च महदुद्दिश्य त्रासिता: कुरवो मया । क्रुद्धेन भूत्वा तु पुनर्यथावदनुदर्शिता:
uttadakamunike śrīkṛṣṇase viśvarūpaṃ darśāne kartum prārthanaṃ; bhayaṃ ca mahad uddiśya trāsitāḥ kuravo mayā | kruddhena bhūtvā tu punar yathāvad anudarśitāḥ; tataḥ krodhena pūrṇaḥ san mayā kauravān mahābhayaiḥ pradarśya bhṛśaṃ trāsitāḥ—yuddhasya bhāvī pariṇāmo ’pi yathārthataḥ darśitaḥ | te tv adharmayuktāḥ kālagrastāś ca; ato mama vacanaṃ na jagṛhuḥ | paścāt kṣatriyadharmānusāreṇa yuddhe hatāḥ | na saṃśayaḥ sarve te svargalokaṃ gatāḥ ||
Vāyu sprach: „Als der Weise Uttadaka Śrī Kṛṣṇa bat, die universale Gestalt zu offenbaren, erschreckte ich, um große Furcht zu erregen, die Kurus. Dann, von Zorn erfüllt, zeigte ich ihnen—genau wie es sein würde—den wahren Ausgang, den der Krieg bringen sollte. Doch sie waren an Adharma gebunden und von der Zeit ergriffen; darum nahmen sie meinen Rat nicht an. Danach wurden sie, dem kṣatriya-dharma gemäß, in der Schlacht erschlagen. Daran besteht kein Zweifel: Sie alle gelangten in den Himmel.“
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even strong warnings and clear foreknowledge cannot reform those who are committed to adharma and overtaken by Kāla (inevitability). Yet the epic also affirms a dharmic nuance: death in battle according to kṣatriya-dharma can still lead to heavenly attainment, separating the moral failure of choices from the ritual-ethical status of a warrior’s end.
Vāyu recounts that, in connection with Uttadaka’s prayer for Kṛṣṇa to show the viśvarūpa, he tried to deter the Kurus by frightening them and showing the true future result of the coming war. The Kauravas refused the counsel because they were aligned with adharma and under the grip of Time; they then died in the war as warriors, and Vāyu concludes that they attained heaven.