Shloka 11
Takṣaka’s agency, Parīkṣit’s rites, and Janamejaya’s enthronement (वैयासिक परम्परा-प्रसङ्गः)
यथा पाण्डुर्महाबाहुर्धनुर्धरवरो युधि । बभूव मृगयाशील: पुरास्य प्रपितामह:,युद्धमें समस्त धनुर्धारियोंमें श्रेष्ठ उनके प्रपितामह महाबाहु पाण्डु जिस प्रकार पूर्वकालमें शिकार खेलनेके शौकीन हुए थे, उसी प्रकार राजा परीक्षित् भी थे
yathā pāṇḍur mahābāhur dhanurdharavaro yudhi | babhūva mṛgayāśīlaḥ purā’sya prapitāmahaḥ ||
Śaunaka said: “Just as his great-grandfather Pāṇḍu—mighty-armed and the foremost of bowmen in battle—was in former times devoted to hunting, so too was King Parīkṣit.”
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how traits and tendencies can recur across generations in royal lineages. By linking Parīkṣit’s fondness for hunting to Pāṇḍu’s earlier habit, it implicitly raises an ethical caution: past patterns—especially those connected with violence or heedlessness—can reappear and lead to consequential outcomes, so a ruler must exercise restraint and discernment.
Śaunaka draws a comparison between King Parīkṣit and his great-grandfather Pāṇḍu. He notes that Pāṇḍu, famed as a mighty archer in war, was also devoted to hunting in earlier times; similarly, Parīkṣit is described as having the same inclination.