Shloka 6

अश्वत्थाम-शापः, परिक्षिद्भविष्यत्, मणि-न्यासः

Aśvatthāman’s Curse, Parikṣit’s Future, and the Mani’s Restitution

Devanagari script

नैतदेवं यथा<55त्थ त्वं पक्षपातेन केशव । वचन पुण्डरीकाक्ष न च मद्धाक्यमन्यथा,“कमलनयन केशव! तुम पाण्डवोंका पक्षपात करते हुए इस समय जैसी बात कह गये हो, वह कभी हो नहीं सकती। मेरा वचन झूठा नहीं होगा

Transliteration

naitadevaṃ yathāttha tvaṃ pakṣapātena keśava | vacanaṃ puṇḍarīkākṣa na ca mad-vākyam anyathā ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “O Keśava, lotus-eyed one! What you have just said—speaking with partiality toward the Pāṇḍavas—can never truly be so. And my own statement will not turn out otherwise; my word will not be false.”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'naitat', 'definition': 'not this

• this is not so'}, {'term': 'evaṃ', 'definition': 'thus

• in this manner'}, {'term': 'yathā', 'definition': 'as

• in the way that'}, {'term': 'āttha', 'definition': 'you said

• you spoke (2nd sg. perfect/preterite of √ah)'}, {'term': 'tvaṃ', 'definition': 'you'}, {'term': 'pakṣapāta', 'definition': 'partiality

• favoritism'}, {'term': 'keśava', 'definition': 'Keśava

• an epithet of Kṛṣṇa'}, {'term': 'vacanam', 'definition': 'speech

• word'}, {'term': 'puṇḍarīkākṣa', 'definition': 'lotus-eyed

• an epithet of Kṛṣṇa/Viṣṇu'}, {'term': 'na ca', 'definition': 'and not

• nor'}, {'term': 'mad-vākyam', 'definition': 'my statement

• my word'}, {'term': 'anyathā', 'definition': 'otherwise

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Keśava (Kṛṣṇa)
• Puṇḍarīkākṣa (Kṛṣṇa)
• Pāṇḍavas

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds the ethical weight of speech: a truthful person insists that their word will not become false, and it critiques counsel distorted by partiality (pakṣapāta), especially in a fraught post-war context.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Sauptika Parva’s tense aftermath, a speaker addresses Kṛṣṇa (Keśava, Puṇḍarīkākṣa), rejecting a claim attributed to him as biased toward the Pāṇḍavas and asserting firmly that the speaker’s own statement will not prove otherwise—i.e., it will stand as true.