Shloka 20

Devanagari script

विमृशन्नेव काल॑ तं॑ परिचिन्त्य जनार्दन: । मेने प्राप्त स षट्त्रिंशं वर्ष वै केशिसूदन:,इस प्रकार समयका विचार करते हुए केशिहन्ता श्रीकृष्णने जब उसका विशेष चिन्तन किया, तब उन्हें मालूम हुआ कि महाभारतयुद्धके बाद यह छत्तीसवाँ वर्ष आ पहुँचा

Transliteration

vimṛśann eva kālaṁ taṁ paricintya janārdanaḥ | mene prāptaṁ sa ṣaṭtriṁśaṁ varṣa vai keśisūdanaḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: Reflecting on that course of time and pondering it closely, Janārdana—Keśi’s slayer—understood that the thirty-sixth year since the great Bhārata war had now arrived. The verse underscores an air of inevitability: time ripens consequences, and even the Lord’s deeds in the world unfold in harmony with the destined order.

Word by Word

विमृशन्reflecting, considering

एवindeed, just

कालम्time

तम्that (time)

परिचिन्त्यhaving thought over, having pondered

जनार्दनःJanardana (Krishna)

मेनेhe understood, he concluded

प्राप्तम्arrived, reached

षट्त्रिंशम्thirty-sixth / thirty-six (as an ordinal/number here)

वर्षम्year

वैindeed, surely

केशिसूदनःKeshisudana (slayer of Keshi; Krishna)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa)

Keśisūdana (Kṛṣṇa)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights kāla (time) as a decisive moral force: events mature according to an ordained sequence, and recognition of the right moment is part of wise—and in this context divine—governance of worldly affairs.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana narrates that Kṛṣṇa, after carefully reflecting on the passage of time, realizes that the thirty-sixth year since the Mahābhārata war has arrived—an important marker in the Mausala Parva’s unfolding of the Yādavas’ final events.