Shloka 271
Adhyāya 270 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s inquiry on saṃnyāsa; Bhīṣma on calculable time, tamas, and karma
Vṛtra–Uśanā exemplum begins
इति श्रीमहाभारते शान्तिपर्वणि मोक्षधर्मपर्वणि कुण्डधारोपाख्याने एकसप्तत्यधिकद्वधिशततमो<5ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate śāntiparvaṇi mokṣadharmaparvaṇi kuṇḍadhāropākhyāne ekasaptatyadhikadvīśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus ends the two-hundred-and-seventy-first chapter in the Mokṣadharma section of the Śānti Parva of the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the episode known as the Kuṇḍadhāra-upākhyāna. (This is a colophon marking the close of the chapter and its narrative unit.)
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
This line is not a teaching verse but a colophon: it formally closes a chapter and situates it within the Śānti Parva’s Mokṣadharma section and the Kuṇḍadhāra episode, emphasizing the text’s organization around dharma and liberation-oriented instruction.
The narrative unit (Kuṇḍadhāra-upākhyāna) and the chapter conclude here; the formula ‘iti … adhyāyaḥ’ signals the end of the chapter in the Mahābhārata’s transmission tradition.