Shloka 23
Plakṣaprasravaṇa–Kārapacana tīrtha-varṇana and Nārada’s war briefing (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 53)
सुरर्षभा ब्राह्मणसत्तमाश्न तथा नृगाद्या नरदेवमुख्या: । इष्ट्वा महा: क्रतुभिर्नसिंहा: संत्यज्य देहान् सुगतिं प्रपन्ना:
surarṣabhā brāhmaṇasattamāś ca tathā nṛgādyā naradevamukhyāḥ | iṣṭvā mahāḥ kratubhir na-siṁhāḥ saṁtyajya dehān sugatiṁ prapannāḥ ||
The foremost among the gods and the best of Brahmins, and likewise eminent royal leaders such as King Nṛga—having performed great sacrificial rites—cast off their bodies and attained the blessed course. The verse underscores a moral vision in which disciplined ritual action, carried out in accordance with dharma, is presented as a means to an auspicious posthumous destiny.
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a dharmic ideal: great beings—exemplary Brahmins and righteous kings—perform major sacrifices and, through that disciplined adherence to sacred duty, attain an auspicious destiny after death.
Rāma cites revered exemplars (divine and human, including King Nṛga) to support a point about the power of great sacrificial rites and dharmic conduct, describing their attainment of ‘sugati’ after relinquishing the body.