Shloka 56
दमयन्त्याः कार्यनिश्चयः — Damayantī’s Crisis Plan and Vārṣṇeya’s Departure
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्याभारत वनपर्वके अन्तर्गत नलोपाख्यानपर्वमें नलकर्तृक देवदौत्यविषयक छप्पनवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
iti prakāraṁ śrīmahābhārate vanaparvake antargata nalopākhyānaparvame nalakṛtṛka devadūtyaviṣayaka ṣaṭpañcāśattamo 'dhyāyaḥ pūrṇaḥ
Thus ends the fifty-sixth chapter, concerning Nala’s account of the divine messenger, within the Nala episode of the Vana Parva of the sacred Mahābhārata. This closing colophon signals the completion of a narrative unit and frames the episode as a moral exemplum—where human conduct is measured against dharma even amid extraordinary, divinely mediated events.
नल उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the verse’s function is to mark completion and to frame the preceding narrative as a coherent moral unit. It implicitly reinforces that the Nala episode is preserved not merely as story, but as instruction—highlighting dharma and ethical discernment even when events involve divine agencies.
This line is not a spoken verse of plot but an editorial/recensional closing statement: it announces that the fifty-sixth chapter—about Nala’s account involving a divine messenger—has concluded within the Nalopākhyāna section of the Vana Parva.