Shloka 21
मौसलोत्पत्तिः — The Birth of the Musala and the Sages’ Pronouncement
पुत्रशोकाभिसंतप्ता गान्धारी हतबान्धवा | यदनुव्याजहारार्ता तदिदं समुपागमत्,वे बोले--“बन्धु-बान्धवोंके मारे जानेपर पुत्रशोकसे संतप्त हुई गान्धारी देवीने अत्यन्त व्यथित होकर हमारे कुलके लिये जो शाप दिया था उसके सफल होनेका यह समय आ गया है
putraśokābhisanta ptā gāndhārī hatabāndhavā | yad anuvyājahārārtā tad idaṃ samupāgamat |
Dijo Vaiśaṃpāyana: Gandhārī, abrasada por el dolor de sus hijos y privada de sus parientes, había pronunciado una vez—presa de la angustia—una maldición contra nuestro linaje. Ahora ha llegado el tiempo de que esa maldición dé su fruto destinado.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral logic of consequence: intense suffering can give rise to powerful speech-acts (a śāpa/curse), and in the epic worldview such acts mature over time into inevitable outcomes. It frames the coming destruction as the ripening of prior causes rather than a random calamity.
Vaiśaṃpāyana signals that the moment has arrived for Gandhārī’s earlier curse upon the Kuru line to take effect. This serves as a narrative hinge in the Mausala Parva, foreshadowing the imminent collapse of the Yādavas and the final unraveling of the epic’s surviving dynasties.