Shloka 45
Babhruvāhana’s Lament and Appeal for Expiation (प्रायश्चित्त-याचना)
मया तु मोहनी नाम मायैषा सम्प्रदर्शिता | प्रियार्थ पुरुषेन्द्रस्य पितुस्तेडद्य यशस्विन:,“यह तो मैंने आज तुम्हारे यशस्वी पिता पुरुषप्रवर धनंजयका प्रिय करनेके लिये मोहनी माया दिखलायी है
mayā tu mohinī nāma māyaiṣā sampradarśitā | priyārthaṃ puruṣendrasya pituḥ te’dya yaśasvinaḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “It was I who, today, displayed this illusion called ‘Mohinī’—shown for the sake of pleasing your glorious father, that best of men.”
वैशमग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that an act involving illusion (māyā) is ethically framed by intention: it is presented as being done ‘for the sake of pleasing’ a revered person. It invites reflection on how motive and context shape the moral reading of deceptive appearances.
The narrator Vaiśaṃpāyana explains that the spectacle or deception called ‘Mohinī’ was deliberately displayed by him on that day, specifically to gratify the addressee’s glorious father—identified in the accompanying gloss as Dhanañjaya (Arjuna).