Shloka 12
कुरुसभायां केशवागमन-सत्कारविधानम् / Preparations to Honor Keśava at the Kuru Court
ववर्ष पुष्पवर्ष च कमलानि च भूरिश: । समश्न पन्था निर्दु:खो व्यपेतकुशकण्टक:
vavarṣa puṣpavarṣaṃ ca kamalāni ca bhūriśaḥ | samaśna panthā nirduḥkho vyapetakūśakaṇṭakaḥ ||
Then there fell a shower of flowers, and in abundance even fully blossomed lotuses. The entire road became even and smooth, free from kuśa-grass and thorns, and thus devoid of hardship and suffering—an auspicious sign marking the righteous course and the honoring of those who walk in dharma.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses auspicious imagery—flowers and lotuses raining down and a thornless, level road—to suggest that when a righteous course is being honored, obstacles are symbolically removed. It reinforces the Mahābhārata’s ethical motif that dharma is accompanied by signs of harmony and ease, while adharma brings friction and suffering.
Vaiśampāyana describes a miraculous, auspicious scene: flowers and many blooming lotuses fall like rain, and the route becomes smooth and free of kuśa-grass and thorns, so that travel is without distress. This functions as an omen-like embellishment to the event being narrated in this section.