Shloka 17
परिक्षिद्वृत्तान्तप्रश्नः
Inquiry into Parīkṣit’s Conduct and the Beginnings of His Downfall
लोकात् पुण्यादिह भ्रष्टा: संतानप्रक्षयान्मुने । प्रणष्टं नस्तपस्तीव्रं न हि नस्तन्तुरस्ति वै,मुने! वंशपरम्पराका क्षय होनेके कारण हमें पुण्य-लोकसे भ्रष्ट होना पड़ा है। हमारी तीव्र तपस्या नष्ट हो गयी; क्योंकि हमारे कुलमें अब कोई संतति नहीं रह गयी है
lokāt puṇyād iha bhraṣṭāḥ saṃtāna-prakṣayān mune | praṇaṣṭaṃ nas tapas tīvraṃ na hi nas tantur asti vai ||
Takṣaka said: “O sage, because our line of descendants has been cut off, we have fallen here from the meritorious worlds. Our severe austerity has come to nothing, for indeed there is no continuance of our lineage anymore.”
तक्षक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links spiritual merit and stability to continuity of dharmic order through lineage: when progeny and family continuity are destroyed, even accumulated merit and austerity are portrayed as becoming fruitless, leading to a fall from higher states.
Takṣaka addresses a sage, lamenting that the destruction of their progeny has severed their lineage (‘tantu’), causing them to lose their standing in the meritorious worlds and rendering their intense ascetic efforts ineffective.