Shloka 666
Adhyāya 31: Rājasūya-samāgama — The Gathering of Kings and the Ordering of Hospitality
निषादान् पुरुषादांश्व कर्णप्रावरणानपि । महाबलशाली महातेजस्वी माद्रीकुमारने शूर्पारक और तालाकट नामक देशोंको जीतते हुए दण्डकारण्यको अपने अधीन कर लिया। तत्पश्चात् समुद्रके द्वीपोंमें निवास करनेवाले म्लेच्छजातीय राजाओं
niṣādān puruṣādāṁś ca karṇaprāvaraṇān api | mahābalaśālī mahātejasvī mādrīkumaras tu śūrparakaṁ ca tālakaṭaṁ ca nāma deśān jitvā daṇḍakāraṇyaṁ vaśam ānayat | tataḥ samudradvīpanivāsinaḥ mlecchajātiyān rājño niṣādān rākṣasāṁś ca karṇaprāvaraṇāṁś ca parājigāya |
Sahadeva said: The son of Madri—mighty in strength and radiant in prowess—subdued the Niṣādas, the man-eaters, and the Karṇaprāvaraṇas as well. Conquering the regions called Śūrparaka and Tālakaṭa, he brought the Daṇḍaka forest under his control. Thereafter he also defeated the foreign (mleccha) kings dwelling on the islands of the sea, along with the Niṣādas, the Rākṣasas, and the Karṇaprāvaraṇas. The passage frames conquest as the extension of royal order over frontier peoples and dangerous wilderness, a typical ethical-political motif in the digvijaya narratives of the Mahābhārata.
सहदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse reflects the epic’s political ethic that a ruler (or royal agent) extends order into wilderness and borderlands—subduing violent threats and integrating distant regions—presented as part of rājadharma and the consolidation of legitimate sovereignty.
In Sahadeva’s report of the campaign, Madri’s son is described as conquering Śūrparaka and Tālakaṭa, bringing Daṇḍakāraṇya under control, and then defeating island-dwelling mleccha kings along with groups named Niṣādas, Puruṣādas, Rākṣasas, and Karṇaprāvaraṇas.