Shloka 17

Devanagari script

जनमेजय उवाच पुनर्विस्तरश: श्रोतुमिच्छामि द्विजसत्तम । दाहं जतुगृहस्यैव पाण्डवानां च मोक्षणम्‌,जनमेजय बोले--विप्रवर! मैं लाक्षागृहके जलने और पाण्डवोंके उससे बच जानेका वृत्तान्त पुनः विस्तारसे सुनना चाहता हूँ

Transliteration

janamejaya uvāca punar vistarataḥ śrotum icchāmi dvijasattama | dāhaṃ jatugṛhasyaiva pāṇḍavānāṃ ca mokṣaṇam ||

Translation

Dijo Janamejaya: «Oh el mejor de los brahmanes, deseo oír de nuevo, con mayor detalle, el relato del incendio de la casa de laca y de cómo los Pāṇḍavas lograron escapar de ella».

Word by Word

जनमेजयःJanamejaya

उवाचsaid

पुनःagain

विस्तरशःin detail

श्रोतुम्to hear

इच्छामिI wish/desire

द्विजसत्तमO best of the twice-born (brahmin)

दाहम्burning, conflagration

जतुगृहस्यof the lac-house

एवindeed/just

पाण्डवानाम्of the Pandavas

चand

मोक्षणम्escape, deliverance

Speaker

जनमेजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Janamejaya

dvijasattama (the Brahmin narrator, i.e., Vaiśampāyana in context)

Jatugṛha (lac-house)

Pāṇḍavas

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the dharmic value of attentive inquiry: a ruler seeks a careful, detailed recounting of a morally charged event—an act of treachery (the lac-house plot) and the preservation of the Pāṇḍavas—so that ethical meaning can be discerned through accurate narration.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Janamejaya requests the Brahmin narrator to retell, with greater detail, the episode of the lac-house being set on fire and the subsequent escape of the Pāṇḍavas.