Shloka 19
कथं समभवद् भेदस्तेषामक्लिष्टकर्मणाम् । तच्च युद्ध कथं वृत्तं भूतान्तकरणं महत्,वे तो राग-द्वेष आदि दोषोंसे रहित सत्कर्म करनेवाले थे, उनमें भेद-बुद्धि कैसे उत्पन्न हुई? तथा प्राणियोंका अन्त करनेवाला उनका वह महायुद्ध किस प्रकार हुआ?
Janamejaya uvāca | kathaṁ samabhavad bhedas teṣām akliṣṭa-karmaṇām | tac ca yuddhaṁ kathaṁ vṛttaṁ bhūtānta-karaṇaṁ mahat ||
Janamejaya said: “How did dissension arise among those men of untroubled, righteous conduct? And how did that great war—so vast and so destructive as to bring about the end of countless beings—come to pass?”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral problem central to the Mahābhārata: even those reputed for blameless conduct can fall into division, and unchecked division can culminate in catastrophic violence. It invites inquiry into the subtle causes—misjudgment, partiality, ambition, and failures of dharma—that can erode unity.
King Janamejaya, hearing the history, asks the narrator to explain two linked matters: (1) how a split arose among otherwise righteous people, and (2) how that split escalated into a vast, life-ending war. The question sets up a causal account of the conflict’s origins and progression.