Shloka 363
Duryodhana’s Śaraṇāgati and the Pāṇḍavas’ Resolve
Gandharva Encounter
घोरैव्याधिशतैर्याति घोररूपवपुस्तथा । मृत्युस॒हित यमराज अत्यन्त भयंकर रूप धारण करके देवताओंके साथ यात्रा कर रहे थे। उन्हें सैकड़ों भयानक रोगोंने मूर्तिमानू होकर चारों ओरसे घेर रखा था
ghorair vyādhiśatair yāti ghorarūpavapus tathā | mṛtyusahitaḥ yamarājaḥ atyanta-bhayaṅkara-rūpaṃ dhārayitvā devatābhiḥ saha yātrāṃ kurvan āsīt | taṃ ca śataśo ghorā vyādhayaḥ mūrtimatya iva sarvataḥ parivārya tiṣṭhanti sma |
Markandeya said: Yamarāja, accompanied by Death itself, moved onward bearing a terrifying form. He journeyed in the company of the gods, while hundreds of dreadful diseases—seeming to take bodily shape—surrounded him on every side. The scene underscores the moral order he enforces: no being escapes the reach of mortality and its afflictions, and fear arises when one confronts the consequences of actions within the law of dharma.
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage evokes the inevitability of death and suffering under the governance of dharma: Yama, as the upholder of moral law, is accompanied by Death and surrounded by embodied diseases, reminding listeners that actions have consequences and that mortal life is bounded by decay.
Mārkaṇḍeya describes a fearsome procession: Yamarāja travels with Death and the gods, while hundreds of dreadful diseases appear as if embodied and encircle him, intensifying the atmosphere of cosmic judgment and the inescapability of mortality.