Shloka 8

राजसूयविचारः — Deliberation on the Rajasuya and the Summoning of Kṛṣṇa

Devanagari script

पितृलोकगतकश्चैव त्वया विप्र पिता मम । दृष्ट: पाण्डुर्महा भाग: कथं वापि समागत:ः,विप्रवर! आपने पितृलोकमें जाकर मेरे पिता महाभाग पाण्डुको भी देखा था, किस प्रकार वे आपसे मिले थे? भगवन्‌! उन्होंने आपसे क्या कहा? यह मुझे बताइये। सुव्रत! आपसे यह सब कुछ सुननेके लिये मेरे मनमें बड़ी उत्कण्ठा है

Transliteration

pitṛlokagatakśa caiva tvayā vipra pitā mama | dṛṣṭaḥ pāṇḍur mahābhāgaḥ kathaṃ vāpi samāgataḥ ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira sagte: «O Brāhmaṇa, du bist in die Welt der Väter gegangen; dort sahst du auch meinen Vater, den edlen Pāṇḍu. Wie kam es, dass er dir begegnete? Und was sagte er zu dir? Sage es mir, Ehrwürdiger. Mein Herz verlangt brennend danach, alles aus deinem eigenen Mund zu hören.»

Word by Word

• {'pitṛloka': 'the world/realm of the Pitṛs (ancestral Fathers)', 'gata': 'gone to

• having reached', 'tvayā': 'by you', 'vipra': 'brāhmaṇa

• learned priest/sage', 'pitā': 'father', 'mama': 'my', 'dṛṣṭaḥ': 'seen', 'pāṇḍuḥ': 'Pāṇḍu (father of the Pāṇḍavas)', 'mahābhāgaḥ': 'highly fortunate

• illustrious', 'katham': 'how?', 'vā api': 'or even

• in what manner at all', 'samāgataḥ': 'met

Speaker

युधिछ्िर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Pāṇḍu
• Pitṛloka
• Vipra (brāhmaṇa interlocutor)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights dharmic reverence for one’s father and ancestors, and the ethical impulse to seek truthful knowledge from a qualified brāhmaṇa. Yudhiṣṭhira’s eagerness is not curiosity for its own sake but a respectful, duty-oriented inquiry into ancestral welfare and the moral order governing the afterlife.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a brāhmaṇa who has reportedly visited Pitṛloka and asks whether he saw Pāṇḍu there. He requests details of how the meeting occurred and what Pāṇḍu said, expressing strong eagerness to hear the account.