Shloka 5
पाण्डवानां पाञ्चालगमनम्
The Pāṇḍavas’ Journey toward Pāñcāla and News of the Svayaṃvara
स चचार सहामात्यो मृगयां गहने वने । मृगान् विध्यन् वराहांश्व रम्येषु मरुधन्वसु,एक दिन वे अपने मन्त्रियोंके साथ गहन वनमें आखेटके लिये गये। मरुप्रदेशके सुरम्य वनोंमें उन्होंने वराहों और अन्य हिंसक पशुओंको मारते हुए एक हिंसक पशुको पकड़नेके लिये उसका पीछा किया। अधिक परिश्रमके कारण उन्हें बड़ा कष्ट सहना पड़ा। नरश्रेष्ठ! वे प्याससे पीड़ित हो महर्षि वसिष्ठके आश्रममें आये। मनुष्योंमें श्रेष्ठ महाराज विश्वामित्रको आया देख पूजनीय पुरुषोंकी पूजा करनेवाले महर्षि वसिष्ठने उनका सत्कार करते हुए आतिथ्य ग्रहण करनेके लिये आमन्त्रित किया
sa cacāra sahāmātyo mṛgayāṃ gahane vane | mṛgān vidhyan varāhāṃś ca ramyeṣu marudhanvasu ||
Accompanied by his ministers, he went hunting in a dense forest. In the delightful woodland tracts of the arid region, he shot down deer and boars and pressed on in the chase—an episode that sets the stage for the ethical tension between royal power displayed as sport and the restraint owed before ascetic sanctity.
गन्धर्व उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a common royal activity—hunting—hinting at the ethical contrast between kṣatriya assertion in the wilderness and the higher ideal of restraint and reverence that will be tested when royal power encounters ascetic authority.
A king, accompanied by his ministers, goes on a hunt in a dense forest and shoots deer and boars in the pleasant tracts of an arid region; this action functions as the lead-in to the subsequent encounter at an āśrama (in this chapter’s broader story).