Shloka 1636
दाहकाले खाण्डवस्य कुरुक्षेत्र गतो हासौ । “वासव! तुम्हारे सखा नागप्रवर तक्षक इस समय यहाँ नहीं हैं। वे खाण्डवदाहके समय कुरुक्षेत्र चले गये थे
dāhakāle khāṇḍavasya kurukṣetra gato hāsau | “vāsava! tumhāre sakhā nāgapravara takṣaka iha samayaṁ nāsti | te khāṇḍavadāhake samaye kurukṣetraṁ calitāḥ”
Dijo Vaiśaṃpāyana: «Cuando el bosque de Khāṇḍava estaba siendo incendiado, él había ido a Kurukṣetra. ¡Oh Vāsava (Indra)! Tu amigo—Takṣaka, el más excelso entre las serpientes—no se halla aquí ahora; durante la quema de Khāṇḍava partió hacia Kurukṣetra».
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how outcomes depend on circumstance and timing: absence can avert immediate harm, and large-scale destructive acts have uneven consequences. Ethically, it invites reflection on collective violence—some escape, others suffer—yet the moral weight of the act remains.
Vaiśaṃpāyana explains that during the burning of the Khāṇḍava forest, Takṣaka—the chief nāga and Indra’s ally—was not there because he had gone to Kurukṣetra. This detail accounts for why Takṣaka was not affected by the Khāṇḍava conflagration.