Shloka 4
सगरोपाख्यानम् — कपिलकोपः, अंशुमतः विनयः, तथा भगीरथपरम्परा
Sagara Upākhyāna: Kapila’s Wrath, Aṃśumān’s Reverence, and the Bhāgīratha Line
युधिछिर उवाच कथं वै ज्ञातयो ब्रह्मन् कारणं चात्र कि मुने । कथं समुद्र: पूर्णश्ष भगीरथप्रतिश्रयात्,युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--“ब्रह्मन्! भगीरथके कुटुम्बीजन समुद्रकी पूर्तिमें निमित्त क्योंकर बने? मुने! उनके निमित्त बननेका कारण क्या है? और भगीरथके आश्रयसे किस प्रकार समुद्रकी पूर्ति हुई?
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca—kathaṁ vai jñātayo brahman kāraṇaṁ cātra kiṁ mune | kathaṁ samudraḥ pūrṇaś ca bhagīratha-pratiśrayāt ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O Brahmin, how did the kinsmen become the cause in this matter, and for what reason, O sage? And how was the ocean made full through Bhagiratha’s support?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse models dhārmic inquiry: Yudhiṣṭhira seeks not only the event but the causal chain—how relatives become instruments in a larger outcome and how a righteous king’s agency (Bhagīratha) can be the condition for a cosmic result (the ocean being ‘filled’).
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a Brahmin-sage, asking for clarification about a traditional account involving King Bhagīratha: why Bhagīratha’s relatives were implicated as the ‘cause’ in the episode, and in what way the ocean came to be described as ‘full’ through Bhagīratha’s support or intervention.