Shloka 213
दिष्टं चाप्यनुपश्यैतत् खाण्डवस्य विनाशनम् | “अतः इन्द्र! तुम्हें देवताओंके साथ यहाँसे चले जाना ही उचित है। खाण्डववनके इस विनाशको तुम प्रारब्धका ही कार्य समझो”
diṣṭaṃ cāpy anupaśyaitat khāṇḍavasya vināśanam | ataḥ indra tvaṃ devatābhiḥ sārdham iha-sthānāt caleḥ iti yuktam | khāṇḍava-vanasya asya vināśaṃ tvaṃ prārabdha-kāryam eva manyasva |
Vaiśampāyana said: “Behold this too as what is ordained—the destruction of the Khāṇḍava forest. Therefore, O Indra, it is fitting that you depart from here together with the gods. Regard the burning down of this Khāṇḍava woodland as the working out of destiny (prārabdha), not as something to be resisted by force.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a major event—the destruction of the Khāṇḍava forest—as diṣṭa/prārabdha, an ordained fruition of karma. Ethically, it urges acceptance of cosmic order: even powerful beings like Indra should recognize when resistance is improper and withdraw rather than oppose what has ripened as destiny.
In the Khāṇḍava episode, Indra attempts to prevent the forest’s destruction. The speaker’s counsel here tells Indra to see the devastation as fated and to depart with the gods, implying that the event is sanctioned by a larger moral-cosmic necessity.