Shloka 1
अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal
अपन बक। ] अति्ऑशाड<ह (पुत्रदर्शनपर्व) एकोनत्रिशो<5 ध्याय: 5300 बान्धवोंके शोकसे दुखी होना तथा गान्धारी और व्यासजीसे अपने मरे हुए पुत्रोंके दर्शन करनेका अनुरोध जनमेजय उवाच वनवासं गते विप्र धृतराष्ट्रे महीपतौ । सभारयें नृपशार्दूल वध्वा कुन्त्या समन्विते
janamejaya uvāca |
vanavāsaṃ gate vipra dhṛtarāṣṭre mahīpatau |
sabhārye nṛpaśārdūla vadhvā kuntyā samanvite ||
Janamejaya said: O brahmin, when King Dhṛtarāṣṭra—the lord of the earth—departed for forest-dwelling, accompanied by his wife (Gāndhārī) and joined by his daughter-in-law Kuntī, what happened next? Tell me how that astonishing event occurred which the supremely radiant Vyāsa had foretold he would reveal—at that time when Vidura had attained perfection and entered Yudhiṣṭhira’s body, and all the Pāṇḍavas were living within the hermitage precincts.
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic transition: after the devastation of war, even sovereign power yields to renunciation. It highlights ethical accountability and the turn toward spiritual life—forest-dwelling as a response to grief, aging, and the moral weight of past actions.
Janamejaya asks the sage to narrate what occurred after Dhṛtarāṣṭra left for the forest with Gāndhārī and Kuntī. He specifically wants to hear about the extraordinary event Vyāsa promised, in the broader context where Vidura attains siddhi and merges into Yudhiṣṭhira, and the Pāṇḍavas reside near the hermitage.