Shloka 1
Puṣkara-Tīrtha-Māhātmya and the Phala of Pilgrimage
Nārada–Yudhiṣṭhira; Pulastya–Bhīṣma Transmission
(दाक्षिणात्य अधिक पाठके ५ श्लोक मिलाकर कुल ३२ श्लोक हैं) पडा नाप () ऑन अत (तीर्थयात्रापर्व) अशीतितमोअ<ध्याय: अर्जुनके लिये द्रोपदीसहित पाण्डवोंकी चिन्ता जनमेजय उवाच भगवन् काम्यकात् पार्थे गते मे प्रपितामहे । वाण्डवा: किमकुर्वस्ते तमृते सव्यसाचिनम्,जनमेजयने पूछा--भगवन्! मेरे प्रपितामह अर्जुनके काम्यकवनसे चले जानेपर उनसे अलग रहते हुए शेष पाण्डवोंने कौन-सा कार्य किया?
janamejaya uvāca | bhagavan kāmyakāt pārthe gate me prapitāmahe | pāṇḍavāḥ kim akurvams te tam ṛte savyasācinam ||
Janamejaya said: “Revered sir, when my great-grandsire Arjuna had departed from the Kāmyaka forest, what did the Pāṇḍavas do while living apart from him—without the left-handed archer (Arjuna)?”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse models dhārmic inquiry: a ruler (Janamejaya) seeks to understand how leaders act when a key protector is absent, highlighting responsibility, resilience, and the ethical importance of learning from ancestral narratives.
Janamejaya asks the sage to continue the story: after Arjuna leaves Kāmyaka forest, he wants to know what the remaining Pāṇḍavas did in his absence, setting up the next events of the Tīrthayātrā (pilgrimage) sequence.