Shloka 9
प्रावृट्-शरत्-वर्णनम् — Description of the Monsoon and Autumn; Sarasvatī in the Pāṇḍavas’ Exile
स सम्पश्यन् गिरिनदीर्वैदूर्यमणिसंनिभै: सलिलैहिमसंकाशै्हँसकारण्डवायुतै:
sa sampaśyan girinadīr vaidūryamaṇisaṁnibhaiḥ salilaiḥ himasaṁkāśaiḥ haṁsakāraṇḍavāyutaiḥ
Vaiśampāyana said: As he journeyed on, he beheld mountain-born rivers whose waters gleamed like vaidūrya gems—clear and cool as snow—alive with swans and kāraṇḍava ducks.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the purifying, orderly beauty of nature—suggesting that even in exile and difficulty, one can cultivate clarity, restraint, and steadiness by aligning the mind with what is pure and serene.
The narrator describes the traveler’s (contextually, the exiled heroes’/a principal figure’s) passage through the forest, where he observes mountain rivers with gem-like, snow-clear waters, crowded with swans and waterfowl.