Shloka 3
ययातेर्वानप्रस्थतपःस्वर्गारोहणम् | Yayāti’s Vānaprastha Austerities and Ascent to Heaven
ताभि: सखीभि: सहिता सर्वाभिमुदिता भृशम् । क्रीडन्त्योडभिरता: सर्वा: पिबन्त्यो मधुमाधवीम्,उस समय उसके साथ एक हजार दासियोंसहित शर्मिष्ठा भी सेवामें उपस्थित थी। वनके उसी प्रदेशमें जाकर वह उन समस्त सखियोंके साथ अत्यन्त प्रसन्नतापूर्वक इच्छानुसार विचरने लगी। वे सभी किशोरियाँ वहाँ भाँति-भाँतिके खेल खेलती हुई आनन्दमें मग्न हो गयीं। वे कभी वासन्तिक पुष्पोंके मकरन्दका पान करतीं, कभी नाना प्रकारके भोज्य पदार्थोंका स्वाद लेतीं और कभी फल खाती थीं। इसी समय नहुषपुत्र राजा ययाति पुनः शिकार खेलनेके लिये दैवेच्छासे उसी स्थानपर आ गये। वे परिश्रम करनेके कारण अधिक थक गये थे और जल पीना चाहते थे। उन्होंने देवयानी, शर्मिष्ठा तथा अन्य युवतियोंकों भी देखा
tābhiḥ sakhībhiḥ sahitā sarvābhimuditā bhṛśam | krīḍantyo 'dbhī ratāḥ sarvāḥ pibantyo madhumādhavīm ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Accompanied by her friends, all of them exceedingly delighted, the maidens sported about as they pleased. Absorbed in play amid the waters, they drank the sweet, honeyed essence of spring—an image of youthful enjoyment that, in the larger narrative, foreshadows how unguarded pleasure can become the setting for consequential encounters and moral complications.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights carefree enjoyment and companionship, but within the Mahābhārata’s moral frame it also suggests that unguarded pleasure and leisure can become the backdrop for events with lasting ethical consequences.
A group of young women, delighted and together with their friends, are playing in/around the water and drinking a sweet springtime beverage or nectar-like essence, setting the scene for the next encounter in the Yayāti–Devayānī–Śarmiṣṭhā narrative.