Shloka 9

Devanagari script

सौतिरुवाच हन्त ते कथयिष्यामि महदाख्यानमुत्तमम्‌ | कृष्णद्वैपायनमतं महाभारतमादित:,उग्रश्रवाजीने कहा--शौनक! मैं बड़ी प्रसन्नताके साथ महाभारत नामक उत्तम उपाख्यानका आरम्भसे ही वर्णन करूँगा, जो श्रीकृष्णद्वैपायन वेदव्यासको अभिमत है

Transliteration

sautir uvāca: hanta te kathayiṣyāmi mahad ākhyānam uttamam | kṛṣṇadvaipāyanamatam mahābhāratam āditaḥ ||

Translation

Sauti said: “Come then— I shall recount to you, from the very beginning, the great and excellent sacred narrative called the Mahābhārata, the work approved and intended by Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa).”

Word by Word

• {'sautiḥ (sautiḥ)': 'Sauti

• Ugraśravas, the professional reciter and narrator', 'uvāca': 'said', 'hanta': 'come!, well then!, an interjection introducing a discourse', 'te': 'to you (plural/respectful)', 'kathayiṣyāmi': 'I shall narrate, I will tell', 'mahat': 'great, vast', 'ākhyānam': 'narrative, legend, sacred account', 'uttamam': 'excellent, supreme', 'kṛṣṇadvaipāyana': 'Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa), the composer/sage', 'matam': 'approved, intended, held as authoritative', 'mahābhāratam': 'the Mahābhārata (the great Bhārata narrative)', 'āditaḥ': 'from the beginning'}

Speaker

शौनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sauti (Ugraśravas)
• Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa)
• Mahābhārata

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds the ethical and textual authority of the Mahābhārata by presenting it as a ‘great and excellent’ ākhyāna sanctioned by Vyāsa. It emphasizes faithful transmission: the narrator commits to recounting the tradition from its very beginning, implying completeness and reliability in matters of dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Ugraśravas Sauti responds to the sages’ request and formally begins his recital. He announces that he will narrate the Mahābhārata from the start and identifies it as the work approved by Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa, thereby setting the frame for the ensuing epic narration.