Shloka 25
Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 148: Vāsudeva’s Report—Mobilization and the Nīti Sequence
Sāma–Bheda–Daṇḍa
हीनाड़ पृथिवीपालं नाभिनन्दन्ति देवता: । इति कृत्वा नृपश्रेष्ठ प्रत्यषेधन् द्विजर्षभा:,“जो किसी अंगसे हीन हो उस राजाका देवतालोग अभिनन्दन नहीं करते हैं; इसीलिये उन श्रेष्ठ ब्राह्मणोंने नृपप्रवर प्रतीपको देवापिका अभिषेक करनेसे मना कर दिया था
hīnāṅgaṃ pṛthivīpālaṃ nābhinandanti devatāḥ | iti kṛtvā nṛpaśreṣṭha pratyāṣedhan dvijarṣabhāḥ ||
«Die Götter billigen keinen König, dem an irgendeinem Glied etwas fehlt.» Darum, o Bester der Könige, verweigerten die erlesensten Brahmanen, diesem Grundsatz folgend, in Devāpikā die Weihe (Abhiṣeka) des erhabenen Königs Pratīpa.
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a traditional norm: a ruler must meet accepted standards of ritual fitness, and priestly custodians of rites may withhold consecration if those standards are not met. It highlights how legitimacy is tied to perceived auspiciousness and dharmic convention in the epic’s social-religious framework.
Vāyu explains that because the gods are said not to approve a physically deficient king, leading Brahmins refused to perform the royal consecration of King Pratīpa at the sacred place Devāpikā, thereby preventing his anointment there.