Shloka 3
अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal
यत् तदाश्चर्यमिति वै करिष्यामीत्युवाच ह । व्यास: परमतेजस्वी महर्षिस्तद् वदस्व मे
janamejaya uvāca |
yat tad āścaryam iti vai kariṣyāmīty uvāca ha |
vyāsaḥ paramatejasvī maharṣis tad vadasva me ||
Janamejaya said: “That supremely radiant sage Vyāsa once declared, ‘I shall bring forth something wondrous.’ Tell me, O revered one, how that astonishing event occurred—at the time when King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, lord of the earth, departed for forest-dwelling with his lawful wife Gāndhārī and his daughter-in-law Kuntī; when Vidura attained perfection and entered the body of Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira; and when all the Pāṇḍavas came to reside within the hermitage-enclosure.”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames ethical-spiritual transition after worldly power: elders embrace forest-renunciation, and a realized being (Vidura) is portrayed as attaining siddhi and merging into the righteous king—suggesting that dharma and inner realization, not mere kingship, are the enduring center of authority.
Janamejaya asks for clarification about Vyāsa’s earlier promise to reveal a ‘marvel.’ He situates the question at a specific moment: Dhṛtarāṣṭra leaves for the forest with Gāndhārī and Kuntī; Vidura attains perfection and enters Yudhiṣṭhira; and the Pāṇḍavas are living in the hermitage precinct.