Shloka 27
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 85: Āṣṭaka–Yayāti संवादः
Merit-Exhaustion, Rebirth, and the Critique of Pride
ययातिरुवाच पूरो त्वं मे प्रिय: पुत्रस्त्वं वरीयान् भविष्यसि । जरा वली च मां तात पलितानि च पर्यगु:,ययातिने [पूरुसे] कहा--पूरो! तुम मेरे प्रिय पुत्र हो। गुणोंमें तुम श्रेष्ठ होओगे। तात! मुझे बुढ़ापेने घेर लिया; सब अंगोंमें झुर्रियाँ पड़ गयीं और सिरके बाल सफेद हो गये। बुढ़ापाके ये सारे चिह्न मुझे एक ही साथ प्राप्त हुए हैं
vaiśampāyana uvāca — yayātir uvāca: pūro tvaṃ me priyaḥ putras tvaṃ varīyān bhaviṣyasi | jarā valī ca māṃ tāta palitāni ca paryaguḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: Yayāti said, “Pūru, you are my beloved son; you will prove the most excellent. Dear child, old age has overtaken me—wrinkles have spread over my limbs and my hair has turned grey. All the marks of senescence have come upon me at once.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the inevitability of aging and the ethical pressure it creates within family and kingship: when decline arrives, one must confront responsibility, succession, and the limits of bodily power—setting the stage for a moral test of filial duty and the proper response to desire and decay.
Yayāti addresses his son Pūru affectionately, praising him as dearest and most excellent, and then announces that sudden old age has overtaken him—wrinkles and grey hair appearing at once—preparing for his request to his sons in the well-known Yayāti episode.