Shloka 3
नक्षत्रेषु श्राद्धफलविधानम् (Śrāddha Outcomes According to Nakṣatras)
उक्त स देवतानां हि अवध्य इति पार्थिव । कथं तस्याभवन्मृत्युर्विस्तरेण प्रकीर्तय,पृथ्वीनाथ! आपने पहले कहा है कि वह देवताओंके लिये अवध्य था, फिर उसकी मृत्यु कैसे हुई? यह विस्सारपूर्वक बताइये
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: uktaḥ sa devatānāṃ hi avadhya iti pārthiva | kathaṃ tasyābhavan mṛtyur vistareṇa prakīrtaya, pṛthvīnātha ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O king, you stated that he was invulnerable—indeed, ‘not to be slain’—for the gods. How, then, did death come upon him? O lord of the earth, recount it to me in full detail.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a classic Mahābhārata problem: apparent invulnerability (avadhyatva) does not eliminate mortality; it invites scrutiny into the precise conditions, loopholes, or dharmic causes by which death becomes possible. Ethical understanding requires careful attention to stated limits, context, and the workings of destiny and human agency.
Yudhiṣṭhira, having heard that a certain figure was ‘unslayable even to the gods,’ asks the kingly narrator to explain—step by step—how that person nevertheless met death. The request signals a transition into a detailed account clarifying the circumstances of the death.