Shloka 31
Adhyāya 90: Babhruvāhana’s Reception and the Commencement of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Aśvamedha
उज्छमप्राप्तवानेव ब्राह्मण: क्षुच्छूमान्वित: । स तथैव क्षुधाविष्ट: सार्ध परिजनेन ह,क्षपयामास तं काल कृच्छ॒प्राणो द्विजोत्तम: । तपस्यामें लगे हुए वे ब्राह्मणदेवता गर्मी और भूख दोनोंसे कष्ट पा रहे थे। भूख और परिश्रमसे पीड़ित होनेपर भी वे उज्छ न पा सके। उन्हें अन्नका एक दाना भी नहीं मिला; अतः परिवारके सभी लोगोंके साथ उसी तरह भूखसे पीड़ित रहकर ही उन्होंने वह समय काटा। वे श्रेष्ठ ब्राह्मण बड़े कष्टसे अपने प्राणोंकी रक्षा करते थे
uccham aprāptavān eva brāhmaṇaḥ kṣucchūmān vitaḥ | sa tathaiva kṣudhāviṣṭaḥ sārdha-parijanena ha kṣapayāmāsa taṃ kālaṃ kṛcchra-prāṇo dvijottamaḥ |
Nakula said: “The Brahmin, afflicted by both hunger and scorching heat, still failed to obtain even the smallest remnant of food. Though tormented by hunger and worn down by exertion, he found not a single grain. And so, together with all his dependents, he endured that period in the same state of deprivation, barely preserving life with great difficulty.”
नकुल उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights dharmic endurance: even when reduced to seeking mere scraps and finding none, the virtuous person bears hardship without abandoning restraint or duty, sustaining life with difficulty but without ethical collapse.
Nakula describes a Brahmin undergoing severe deprivation—afflicted by heat and hunger, unable to obtain even leftover food—who nevertheless passes the time together with his dependents, barely maintaining life through extreme hardship.