Shloka 8

राजसूयविचारः — Deliberation on the Rajasuya and the Summoning of Kṛṣṇa

Devanagari script

पितृलोकगतकश्चैव त्वया विप्र पिता मम । दृष्ट: पाण्डुर्महा भाग: कथं वापि समागत:ः

Transliteration

pitṛlokagatakśa caiva tvayā vipra pitā mama | dṛṣṭaḥ pāṇḍur mahābhāgaḥ kathaṃ vāpi samāgataḥ ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O brāhmaṇa, you have gone to the world of the Fathers; there you also saw my father, the noble Pāṇḍu. How did he come to meet you? And what did he say to you? Tell me this, revered one. My heart is intensely eager to hear all of it from you.”

Word by Word

• {'pitṛloka': 'the world/realm of the Pitṛs (ancestral Fathers)', 'gata': 'gone to

• having reached', 'tvayā': 'by you', 'vipra': 'brāhmaṇa

• learned priest/sage', 'pitā': 'father', 'mama': 'my', 'dṛṣṭaḥ': 'seen', 'pāṇḍuḥ': 'Pāṇḍu (father of the Pāṇḍavas)', 'mahābhāgaḥ': 'highly fortunate

• illustrious', 'katham': 'how?', 'vā api': 'or even

• in what manner at all', 'samāgataḥ': 'met

Speaker

युधिछ्िर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Pāṇḍu
• Pitṛloka
• Vipra (brāhmaṇa interlocutor)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights dharmic reverence for one’s father and ancestors, and the ethical impulse to seek truthful knowledge from a qualified brāhmaṇa. Yudhiṣṭhira’s eagerness is not curiosity for its own sake but a respectful, duty-oriented inquiry into ancestral welfare and the moral order governing the afterlife.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a brāhmaṇa who has reportedly visited Pitṛloka and asks whether he saw Pāṇḍu there. He requests details of how the meeting occurred and what Pāṇḍu said, expressing strong eagerness to hear the account.