Shloka 20
Svargārohaṇa-parva Adhyāya 2 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry for His Kin and the Vision of a Punitive Realm
अयोमुखैश्न काकाद्यर्गुप्रैश्ष समभिद्रुतम् । सूचीमुखैस्तथा प्रेतैर्विन्ध्यशैलोपमैर्वृतम्,लोहेकी-सी चोंचवाले कौए और गीध आदि पक्षी मँडरा रहे थे। सूईके समान चुभते हुए मुखोंवाले और विन्ध्यपर्ववके समान विशालकाय प्रेत वहाँ सब ओर घूम रहे थे
ayomukhaiś ca kākādyair gṛdhraiś ca samabhidrutam | sūcīmukhaiś tathā pretair vindhya-śailopamaiḥ vṛtam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: That place was swarmed by iron-beaked birds—crows and the like, and vultures. It was also surrounded by spirits with needle-like, piercing mouths, huge as the Vindhya mountains, roaming on every side—an image of the grim consequences that follow violence and moral collapse.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses terrifying imagery—predatory birds and monstrous pretas—to underscore moral causality: actions, especially those rooted in cruelty and adharma, lead to dreadful experiential consequences, even when one is otherwise connected to a grand epic destiny.
Vaiśampāyana describes a horrific region encountered in the Svargarohana narrative: it is crowded with iron-beaked birds (crows, vultures) and surrounded by enormous, needle-mouthed spirits likened to the Vindhya mountains, creating an atmosphere of torment and dread.