Shloka 3312
इति श्रीमहा भारते वनपर्वणि आरणेयपर्वणि नकुलादिपतने द्वादशाधिकत्रिशततमो<5ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi āraṇeyaparvaṇi nakulādipatane dvādaśādhikatriśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus ends the three-hundred-and-twenty-fourth chapter (with twelve added) in the Vana Parva of the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Āraṇeya section, concerning the falling down of Nakula and the others. This is a colophon marking the close of the chapter in the Yakṣa–Dharma dialogue episode, where the moral testing of Yudhiṣṭhira unfolds through the fate of his brothers.
यक्ष उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the line itself teaches no new doctrine, but it frames the ethical setting: the Yakṣa’s questioning culminates in a dharma-test where right judgment, restraint, and truth are weighed against desperation and loss.
This is the chapter-ending marker for the episode in which Nakula and the other brothers fall (after approaching the forbidden water), setting the stage for Yudhiṣṭhira’s encounter with the Yakṣa and the ensuing moral-philosophical interrogation.