Shloka 23
दिव उल्काश्चापतन्त राहुश्चार्कमुपाग्रसत् । अपर्वणि महाघोरंं प्रजानां जनयन् भयम्,उस समय प्रलयकालीन मेघोंकी भयानक गर्जनाके समान भारी आवाजके साथ बड़े जोरकी आँधी चलने लगी। वज्रपातका-सा अत्यन्त कर्कश शब्द होने लगा। आकाशसे उल्काएँ गिरने लगीं तथा राहुने बिना पर्वके ही सूर्यको ग्रस लिया और प्रजाके लिये अत्यन्त घोर भय उपस्थित कर दिया
diva ulkāś cāpatanta rāhuś cārkam upāgrasat | aparvaṇi mahāghoraṁ prajānāṁ janayan bhayam ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “From the sky, meteors began to fall, and Rāhu seized the sun—an eclipse occurring out of season—creating a most dreadful terror among the people.” In the narrative, these unnatural portents function as moral and cosmic warnings: when rulers and assemblies abandon dharma, nature itself seems to signal the approach of calamity and the ripening of collective wrongdoing.
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores a Mahābhārata theme: when dharma is violated at the level of governance and public life, the world appears morally and cosmically unsettled. Portents like untimely eclipses symbolize the inversion of order and warn of consequences that will fall upon rulers and subjects alike.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra reports terrifying omens—meteors falling and an untimely solar eclipse caused by Rāhu—spreading fear among the populace. Such signs foreshadow impending disaster connected with the unfolding conflict and the moral failures within the Kuru court.