Shloka 16
Takṣaka’s agency, Parīkṣit’s rites, and Janamejaya’s enthronement (वैयासिक परम्परा-प्रसङ्गः)
परिक्षितो नरेन्द्रस्य विद्धो यन्नष्टवान् मृग: । दूरं चापहतस्तेन मृूगेण स महीपति:,उनके द्वारा घायल किया हुआ मृग कभी वनमें जीवित बचकर नहीं जाता था; परंतु आज जो महाराज परीक्षितका घायल किया हुआ मृग तत्काल अदृश्य हो गया था, वह वास्तवमें उनके स्वर्गवासका मूर्तिमान् कारण था। उस मृगके साथ राजा परीक्षित् बहुत दूरतक खिंचे चले गये
parīkṣito narendrasya viddho yan naṣṭavān mṛgaḥ | dūraṃ cāpahatas tena mṛgeṇa sa mahīpatiḥ |
Śaunaka said: “The deer that King Parīkṣit had struck—though such a wounded animal ordinarily does not survive in the forest—vanished at once. In truth, that very deer became the embodied cause leading to the king’s departure to heaven (his death). Drawn along in pursuit of it, King Parīkṣit was carried far away.”
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how a seemingly ordinary act—hunting and wounding a deer—can become the decisive link in a chain of consequences. It underscores the ethical weight of a ruler’s actions and the way karma and circumstance can converge to bring about an inevitable outcome.
Śaunaka narrates that King Parīkṣit’s wounded deer unexpectedly disappears instead of dying nearby. The king pursues it and is drawn far into the forest; this pursuit becomes the immediate narrative trigger that will lead to the events culminating in his death.