Shloka 11
Saubha-nipātana: Kṛṣṇa’s Counter to Śālva’s Māyā
Book 3, Chapter 23
स्वयं निवेश्याप्रतिमं महात्मा पुरं महादेवपुरप्रकाशम् । शतक्रतुप्रस्थममेयकर्मा हित्वा प्रयात: क्व नु धर्मराज:,“जिन महात्माने स्वयं ही पुरुषार्थ करके महादेवजीके नगर कैलासकी-सी सुषमावाले अनुपम इन्द्रप्रस्थ नामक नगरको बसाया था, वे अचिन्त्यकर्मा धर्मराज युधिष्ठिर अपनी उस पुरीको छोड़कर अब कहाँ जा रहे हैं?
svayaṁ niveśyāpratimaṁ mahātmā puraṁ mahādevapuraprakāśam | śatakratuprastham ameyakarmā hitvā prayātaḥ kva nu dharmarājaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “That great-souled king—of immeasurable deeds—who by his own effort established the incomparable city of Indraprastha, radiant like the city of Mahādeva (Kailāsa), has now abandoned it. Where, then, is Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira going?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of worldly sovereignty: even a righteous king who founded a splendid capital through personal effort can be compelled to abandon it. It invites reflection on dharma under adversity—how duty and moral steadiness must persist when fortune reverses.
The narrator, Vaiśampāyana, expresses astonishment and pathos: Yudhiṣṭhira—renowned for dharma and great deeds—has left behind the magnificent Indraprastha (likened to Śiva’s radiant abode) and is setting out into displacement, signaling the onset of the Pāṇḍavas’ hardship in the forest-exile context.