Shloka 1
Karma, Preta-gati, and the Continuity of Phala
Mārkaṇḍeya’s Instruction
वैशम्पायनजी कहते हैं--जनमेजय! सर्पके शरीरसे बँधे हुए अपने प्रिय भाई भीमसेनके पास पहुँचकर परम बुद्धिमान् युधिष्ठिरने इस प्रकार पूछा--
Vaiśampāyana uvāca—Janamejaya! sarpasya śarīreṇa baddhaṃ svapriyaṃ bhrātaraṃ Bhīmasenaṃ prati upetya paramabuddhimān Yudhiṣṭhiraḥ evam apṛcchat—
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Janamejaya, when the supremely wise Yudhiṣṭhira reached his beloved brother Bhīmasena, who had been bound by the coils of a serpent’s body, he questioned him in this manner.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds dharmic leadership: Yudhiṣṭhira responds to danger not with panic but with attentive inquiry, implying that wisdom and right questioning are essential when confronting suffering and uncertainty.
Within Vaiśampāyana’s narration to King Janamejaya, Yudhiṣṭhira comes upon Bhīma restrained by a serpent’s coils and begins to question him, setting up the ensuing explanation of how this peril arose.