Shloka 7
अश्वमेधावसानम् — Dakṣiṇā-vibhāga and Avabhṛtha
Completion of the Aśvamedha
वैशम्पायन उवाच यज्ञस्य विधिमग्र्यं वै फलं चापि नराधिप । गदत: शृणु मे राजन् यथावदिह भारत
Vaiśampāyana uvāca: yajñasya vidhim agryaṃ vai phalaṃ cāpi narādhipa | gadataḥ śṛṇu me rājan yathāvad iha bhārata ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O lord of men, O Bhārata king, listen as I speak. Here I shall set forth, in due order, the foremost procedure of sacrifice and its fruits, so that you may understand how righteous action bears its proper result.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
That sacrificial action (yajña) must be performed according to proper rule (vidhi), and that its ‘fruit’ (phala) follows in a morally ordered way; the passage frames ritual as a dharmic discipline rather than mere display.
The narrator-sage Vaiśampāyana addresses the king and announces that he will now explain, step by step, the best method of performing a sacrifice and the results it yields, introducing an instructional section within the Ashvamedhika Parva.