Shloka 40
अर्जुनदुःखहेतुप्रश्नः — Inquiry into the cause of Arjuna’s recurring hardship
Book 14, Chapter 89
सर्पि:पड्का हृदा यत्र बभूवुश्चान्नपर्वता: । रसालाकर्दमा नद्यो बभूवुर्भरतर्षभ,इस प्रकार बुद्धिमान् धर्मराज युधिष्ठिरका वह यज्ञ पूर्ण हुआ। उसमें अन्न, धन और रत्नोंके ढेर लगे हुए थे। देवताओंके मनमें अतिशय कामना उत्पन्न करनेवाली वस्तुओंका सागर लहराता था। कितने ही ऐसे तालाब थे, जिनमें घीकी कीचड़ जमी हुई थी और अन्नके तो पहाड़ ही खड़े थे। भरतभूषण! रससे भरी कीचड़रहित नदियाँ बहती थीं
Vaiśampāyana uvāca: sarpiḥ-paṅkā hradā yatra babhūvuś cānna-parvatāḥ | rasālā-kardamā nadyo babhūvur bharatarṣabha ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O bull among the Bharatas, in that sacrifice there were ponds whose mire was ghee, and there stood mountains of food. Rivers flowed with rich, sweet essence, free from muddy silt.” Thus the wise Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira’s rite reached completion, displaying abundance offered and distributed in a way meant to delight the gods and sustain all who came—an image of royal duty fulfilled through generosity rather than hoarding.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses hyperbolic imagery of abundance to highlight a king’s dharma: wealth and resources gain ethical meaning when consecrated through yajña and expressed as generous distribution that benefits gods, guests, and society.
Vaiśampāyana describes the splendor of Yudhiṣṭhira’s completed Aśvamedha sacrifice—ponds with ghee-like mire, heaps of food like mountains, and pure, rich-flowing rivers—signaling the rite’s successful culmination and the scale of offerings and hospitality.