Shloka 17
Vṛddha-kanyā-carita and Balarāma’s Kurukṣetra Inquiry (वृद्धकन्या-चरितम् / कुरुक्षेत्रफल-प्रश्नः)
सरस्वत्यै वरं प्रादात् प्रीयमाणो महामुनि: । विश्वेदेवाः सपितरो गन्धर्वाप्सरसां गणा:
sarasvatyai varaṃ prādāt prīyamāṇo mahāmuniḥ | viśvedevāḥ sapitaro gandharvāpsarasāṃ gaṇāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Pleased at heart, the great sage granted a boon to Sarasvatī. Present there as witnesses and celebrants were the Viśvedevas, the Pitṛs (ancestral spirits), and the assembled companies of Gandharvas and Apsarases—marking the boon as a solemn, divinely sanctioned act rather than a private favor.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A boon becomes ethically weighty and socially binding when granted in a sacred setting and in the presence of divine and ancestral witnesses; it underscores that grace (vara) is not arbitrary but aligned with cosmic and ritual order.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that a great sage, pleased with Sarasvatī, grants her a boon, while various celestial and ancestral beings—Viśvedevas, Pitṛs, Gandharvas, and Apsarases—are present as an assembled host, emphasizing the solemnity and public sanction of the event.