Shloka 42
पौष्यं पौलोममास्तीकमादिरंशावतारणम् | ततः सम्भवपर्वोक्तमद्भुतं रोमहर्षणम्,इसके पश्चात् पौष्य, पौलोम, आस्तीक और आदिअंशावतरण पर्व हैं। तदनन्तर सम्भवपर्वका वर्णन है, जो अत्यन्त अद्भुत और रोमांचकारी है
pauṣyaṃ paulomam āstīkam ādir aṃśāvatāraṇam | tataḥ sambhava-parvoktam adbhutaṃ romaharṣaṇam |
Thereafter come the Pauṣya, Pauloma, Āstīka, and the Ādi-aṃśāvatāraṇa (account of partial incarnations). Then is narrated the Sambhava-parvan—marvellous beyond measure, and hair-raising in its wonder.
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as a table-of-contents marker: it frames the Mahābhārata as a carefully ordered transmission of sacred history, where extraordinary events (adbhuta) and divine ‘partial incarnations’ (aṃśāvatāraṇa) are presented to illuminate the moral universe in which dharma operates through lineage, vows, and cosmic purpose.
The speaker enumerates successive sub-parvans within the opening portion: Pauṣya, Pauloma, Āstīka, and the account of aṃśa-avatāras, followed by the Sambhava-parvan, described as wondrous and thrilling—signaling that the text is moving into the origins and births of key lineages and figures.