Shloka 13131
Aṣṭāvakra–Kahoda Upākhyāna: Śvetaketu’s Āśrama, Sarasvatī, and the Origin of Aṣṭāvakra
इति श्रीमहाभारते वनपर्वणि तीर्थयात्रापर्वणि लोमशतीर्थयात्रायां श्येनकपोतीये एकत्रिंशदधिकशततमो< ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi tīrthayātrāparvaṇi lomaśatīrthayātrāyāṃ śyenakapotīye ekatriṃśadadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Vana Parva—specifically in the Tīrtha-yātrā section recounting Lomāśa’s pilgrimage—ends the one-hundred-and-thirty-first chapter, called the episode of the hawk and the dove (Śyenakapotīya). This closing colophon frames the tale as an ethical exemplum, revealing the tension within dharma between duty, compassion, and the claims of different beings.
श्येन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The colophon signals that the preceding episode (hawk and dove) is presented as a dharma-illustration: ethical life involves weighing competing claims—compassion for the vulnerable, obligations toward living beings, and the limits of one’s duty—within a larger moral order.
This line is a closing colophon: it marks the end of the 131st chapter within the Vana Parva’s pilgrimage section, situating the ‘hawk-and-dove’ episode inside Lomāśa’s tīrtha-yātrā narration.