Shloka 1
Adhyāya 283: Varṇa-vṛtti, Nyāya-ārjana, and the Decline-and-Restoration of Dharma (वर्णवृत्तिः न्यायार्जनं च)
(दाक्षिणात्य अधिक पाठका ह “लोक मिलाकर कुल ६३ ३ “लोक हैं) ८5 >> श््मु #* +/<< चतुरशीर्त्याधेकद्विशततमो< ध्याय: पार्वतीके रोष एवं खेदका निवारण करनेके लिये भगवान् शिवके द्वारा दक्षयज्ञका विध्वंस, दक्षद्वारा किये हुए शिवसहस्रनामस्तोत्रसे संतुष्ट होकर महादेवजीका उन्हें वरदान देना तथा इस स्तोत्रकी महिमा जनमेजय उवाच प्राचेतसस्य दक्षस्य कथ॑ं वैवस्वतेडन्तरे । विनाशमगमद् ब्रह्मन् हयमेध: प्रजापते:,जनमेजयने पूछा--ब्रह्मन्! वैवस्वत मन्वन्तरमें प्रचेताओंके पुत्र दक्षप्रजापतिका अश्वमेध यज्ञ कैसे नष्ट हो गया?
janamejaya uvāca | prācetasasya dakṣasya kathaṃ vaivasvate 'ntare | vināśam agamad brahman hayamedhaḥ prajāpateḥ ||
Janamejaya said: “O Brahmin, how did the Aśvamedha sacrifice of Dakṣa Prajāpati—son of the Pracetases—come to destruction during the Vaivasvata Manvantara?”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic inquiry: even a grand Vedic rite like the Aśvamedha can fail if the sacrificer’s conduct violates higher ethical and devotional norms. It prepares the lesson that ritual power is subordinate to humility, right intention, and reverence toward the divine and the righteous.
King Janamejaya asks the sage to explain a famous episode: in the Vaivasvata Manvantara, how Dakṣa Prajāpati’s Aśvamedha sacrifice was destroyed. This question introduces the ensuing account of the Dakṣa-yajña episode and its causes and consequences.