Shloka 2
स्वर्गारोहणपर्व — तृतीयोऽध्यायः
Indra and Dharma’s Consolation; Celestial Gaṅgā Purification
सच विग्रहवान् धर्मो राजानं प्रसमीक्षितुम् तत्राजगाम यत्रासौ कुरुराजो युधिषिर:,साक्षात् धर्म भी शरीर धारण करके राजासे मिलनेके लिये उस स्थानपर आये जहाँ वे कुरुराज युधिष्छिर विद्यमान थे
sa ca vigrahavān dharmo rājānaṃ prasamīkṣitum tatrājagāma yatrāsau kururājo yudhiṣṭhiraḥ | sākṣād dharmaḥ śarīraṃ dhārayitvā rājase milanāya tasmin sthāne āgacchat yatra sa kururājo yudhiṣṭhiraḥ vidyamānaḥ āsīt |
And Dharma himself, assuming a visible bodily form, came there in order to meet and observe the king—at the very place where Yudhiṣṭhira, the Kuru king, was present.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is portrayed as an active, personal force that evaluates leadership. A king’s legitimacy is grounded not only in power or lineage but in being answerable to righteousness itself, which can ‘appear’ to test and confirm moral integrity.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that Dharma, taking a tangible form, goes to the place where Yudhiṣṭhira is present in order to meet him and examine him—setting up a direct moral encounter between the deity of righteousness and the Kuru king.