Shloka 5
मौसलोत्पत्तिः — The Birth of the Musala and the Sages’ Pronouncement
विवृद्धमूषिका रथ्या विभिन्नमणिकास्तथा । केशा नखाश्न सुप्तानामद्यन्ते मूषिकैनिशि,चूहे इतने बढ़ गये थे कि वे सड़कोंपर छाये रहते थे। मिट्टीके बरतनोंमें छेद कर देते थे तथा रातमें सोये हुए मनुष्योंके केश और नख कुतरकर खा जाया करते थे
vivṛddha-mūṣikā rathyā vibhinnamaṇikās tathā | keśā nakhāś ca suptānām adyante mūṣikair niśi ||
Vaiśampāyana said: The mice had multiplied greatly and overran the streets. They gnawed through earthen vessels, and at night they even chewed and ate the hair and nails of people while they slept. The scene signals a grave social and moral disorder—an ominous decay of safety and cleanliness that mirrors the collapse of right order after the great war.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a disturbing public calamity—vermin overrunning human spaces—to indicate the breakdown of order and protection in society. Ethically, it suggests that when collective dharma weakens, even basic security and cleanliness collapse, and nature itself appears hostile.
Vaiśampāyana describes ominous conditions: mice have multiplied, infest the streets, pierce earthen pots, and at night gnaw the hair and nails of sleeping people. It functions as a portent of worsening times and impending catastrophe in the Mausala Parva narrative.