Shloka 4
Cyavana Explains His Tests; Kuśika Seeks Brāhmaṇya for His Line (च्यवन–कुशिक संवादः)
तदस्य सम्भवं राजन् निखिलेनानुकीर्तय । कौशिकाच्च कथं वंशात् क्षत्राद् वै ब्राह्मणो भवेत्
tadasya sambhavaṁ rājan nikhilenānukīrtaya | kauśikāc ca kathaṁ vaṁśāt kṣatrād vai brāhmaṇo bhavet ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O King, recount to me in full the circumstances of his birth. How is it that from the lineage of Kuśika—though it was Kṣatriya—there came to be a Brāhmaṇa? Tell me, O King, the complete account of Paraśurāma’s origin.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic inquiry into how spiritual status and social identity (Brāhmaṇa-hood) can arise in relation to lineage (vaṁśa). It prompts reflection on whether varṇa is determined solely by birth or also by qualities, conduct, and divine/ascetic factors as explained in the ensuing narrative.
Yudhiṣṭhira requests a complete account of Paraśurāma’s origin and asks how a Brāhmaṇa could emerge from the Kṣatriya Kauśika line. This sets up the subsequent genealogical and explanatory narration by the interlocutor addressed as ‘O King’.