Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 5

बदरपाचन-तीर्थमाहात्म्यम् | Badarapācana Tīrtha Māhātmya

Indratīrtha and the Austerities of Srucāvatī & Arundhatī

Devanagari script

वैशम्पायन उवाच शृणु राजन्निदं चित्र पूर्वकल्पे यथातथम्‌ । आदी कृतयुगे राजन्‌ वर्तमाने यथाविधि

Transliteration

Vaiśampāyana uvāca: śṛṇu rājann idaṃ citraṃ pūrvakalpe yathātatham | ādau kṛtayuge rājan vartamāne yathāvidhi ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “Listen, O king, to this wondrous account, exactly as it occurred in a former age. In the beginning, in the Kṛta Yuga, O king, when things proceeded according to the ordained rule…”

Word by Word

• वैशम्पायनः: Vaishampayana
• वैशम्पायनः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: वैशम्पायन
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• उवाच: said
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच्
• Form: Perfect, Third, Singular

• शृणु: listen
• Type: Verb
• Root: श्रु
• Form: Imperative, Second, Singular

• राजन्: O king
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन्
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• इदम्: this
• इदम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: इदम्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• चित्रम्: wonderful/strange
• चित्रम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: चित्र
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• पूर्वकल्पे: in a former kalpa (previous aeon)
• पूर्वकल्पे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: पूर्वकल्प
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• यथा: as/how
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• तथम्: so/just so
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथम्

• आदी: at first/in the beginning
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: आदि

• कृतयुगे: in the Krita Yuga
• कृतयुगे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: कृतयुग
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• राजन्: O king
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन्
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• वर्तमाने: while (it was) prevailing/being present
• वर्तमाने: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: वृत्
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular, Shatru (present active participle)

• यथा: as/according to
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• विधि: rule/ordinance
• Type: Noun
• Root: विधि
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• rājan (the king addressed)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds fidelity to tradition and truth in narration—an ethical commitment to report events “as they really happened,” and it invokes the Kṛta Yuga as a paradigm of dharma functioning according to prescribed order (vidhi).

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana addresses the king and introduces a remarkable account from a former age, setting a temporal frame (“in the beginning, in the Kṛta Yuga”) before proceeding to the story that follows.