Shloka 7
Pāṇḍu’s Marriages, Conquests, and Triumphal Return (पाण्डोर्विवाह-विजय-प्रत्यागमनम्)
सा कदाचिदहं तत्र गता प्रथमयौवनम् । अथ धर्मविदां श्रेष्ठ: परमर्षि: पराशर:
sā kadācid ahaṃ tatra gatā prathamayauvanam | atha dharmavidāṃ śreṣṭhaḥ paramarṣiḥ parāśaraḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Once, at that place, I went while I was just entering the first bloom of youth. At that time the supreme seer Parāśara—foremost among those who know dharma—(came there).”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the episode within a dharma-centered lens by introducing Parāśara as ‘foremost among knowers of dharma,’ signaling that the forthcoming events are to be interpreted through ethical and social norms, not merely personal desire or chance.
The speaker (Satyavatī, within Vaiśampāyana’s narration) begins recounting a past incident: while she was in early youth, the great sage Parāśara arrived there, setting up the well-known encounter that leads to the birth of Vyāsa.