Shloka 8

पञ्चमहाभूतगुण-इन्द्रियनिग्रह-उपदेशः | Teaching on the Qualities of the Five Elements and Sense-Control

Devanagari script

वैशम्पायन उवाच युधिष्ठिरेणैवमुक्तो मार्कण्डेयो महामुनि: । धौन्धुमारमुपाख्यानं कथयामास भारत,वैशम्पायनजीने कहा--भारत! धर्मराज युधिष्ठिरके ऐसा कहनेपर महामुनि मार्कण्डेयने धुन्धुमारकी कथा प्रारम्भ की

Transliteration

Vaiśampāyana uvāca: Yudhiṣṭhireṇaivam ukto Mārkaṇḍeyo mahāmuniḥ | Dhaundhumāram upākhyānaṃ kathayām āsa, Bhārata ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: Als der Dharma-König Yudhiṣṭhira so gesprochen hatte, begann der große Weise Mārkaṇḍeya, der auf diese Weise angeredet worden war, dir, o Bhārata, die sagenhafte Begebenheit von Dhaundhumāra zu erzählen.

Word by Word

वैशम्पायनःVaiśampāyana

उवाचsaid

युधिष्ठिरेणby Yudhiṣṭhira

एवम्thus

उक्तःaddressed / spoken to

मार्कण्डेयःMārkaṇḍeya

महामुनिःthe great sage

धौन्धुमारम्Dhaundhumāra (name/epithet)

उपाख्यानम्narrative, episode

कथयामासbegan to narrate / narrated

आमindeed (particle; also part of periphrastic perfect formation)

भारतO Bhārata

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Yudhiṣṭhira

Mārkaṇḍeya

Dhaundhumāra

Bhārata

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames dharma as something clarified through exemplary tradition: a righteous king’s inquiry is answered not merely with abstract rules, but with an instructive upākhyāna (illustrative legend) narrated by a realized sage.

What is happening in the narrative?

After Yudhiṣṭhira speaks, Mārkaṇḍeya responds by beginning the Dhaundhumāra episode; Vaiśampāyana, as the outer narrator, signals this transition into a new embedded story.