Shloka 83
समन्तपञ्चक-आख्यानम् तथा अक्षौहिणी-प्रमाणनिर्णयः
Samantapañcaka Narrative and the Measure of an Akṣauhiṇī
मौसल पर्व चोद्िष्टं ततो घोरं सुदारुणम् । महाप्रस्थानिकं पर्व स्वर्गारोहणिकं तत:,भविष्यपर्व चाप्युक्तं खिलेष्वेवाद्भुतं महत् । एतत् पर्वशतं पूर्ण व्यासेनोक्ते महात्मना इस खिलपर्वमें भविष्यपर्व भी कहा गया है, जो महान् अदभुत है। महात्मा श्रीव्यासजीने इस प्रकार पूरे सौ पर्वोकी रचना की है
mausala-parva coddiṣṭaṃ tato ghoraṃ sudāruṇam | mahāprasthānikaṃ parva svargārohaṇikaṃ tataḥ, bhaviṣya-parva cāpy uktaṃ khileṣv evādbhutaṃ mahat | etat parva-śataṃ pūrṇaṃ vyāsenokte mahātmanā ||
He said: “Next has been indicated the Mausala Parva—grim and most dreadful. After that come the Mahāprasthānika Parva and then the Svargārohaṇika Parva. In the supplementary sections (khilas) there is also mentioned the Bhaviṣya Parva, a great and wondrous addition. Thus the venerable Vyāsa has set forth this complete collection of a hundred parvas.”
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the deliberate architecture and completeness of the Mahābhārata as a dharma-text: Vyāsa’s composition is presented as a comprehensive, ordered whole (a ‘hundred parvas’), culminating in grim endings and transcendence (departure and ascent), reminding readers of impermanence and the moral weight of history.
The speaker is enumerating later sections of the epic—Mausala, Mahāprasthānika, and Svargārohaṇika—and notes that an additional ‘Bhaviṣya Parva’ is found among the supplementary khilas. This functions as a catalog-like summary of the epic’s concluding components and its total parva-count.