Shloka 174
Bhīmasena’s Himalayan Hunt and Seizure by the Ajagara (भीमसेनस्य अजगरग्रहणम्)
इति श्रीमहाभारते वनपर्वणि निवातकवचयुद्धपर्वणि अस्त्रदर्शनसंकेते चतु:सप्तत्यधिकशततमो<ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi nivātakavacayuddhaparvaṇi astradarśanasaṅkete catuḥsaptatyadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Forest Book (Vana Parva), in the sub-episode concerning the battle with the Nivātakavacas, in the section titled “The Signal for the Display of Weapons,” ends the one-hundred-and-seventy-fourth chapter.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
This line is a colophon rather than a doctrinal verse: it teaches how the Mahābhārata organizes its narrative into parvas, sub-sections, and chapter counts, emphasizing careful textual framing and thematic indexing (here: weapons-display as a narrative signal within a war-episode).
The narrative action pauses: the text formally marks the conclusion of a chapter situated in Vana Parva, within the Nivātakavaca battle episode, under the heading ‘Astra-darśana-saṅketa’—a section associated with the indication or occasion for demonstrating celestial weapons.