Shloka 5
मौसलोत्पत्तिः — The Birth of the Musala and the Sages’ Pronouncement
विवृद्धमूषिका रथ्या विभिन्नमणिकास्तथा । केशा नखाश्न सुप्तानामद्यन्ते मूषिकैनिशि,चूहे इतने बढ़ गये थे कि वे सड़कोंपर छाये रहते थे। मिट्टीके बरतनोंमें छेद कर देते थे तथा रातमें सोये हुए मनुष्योंके केश और नख कुतरकर खा जाया करते थे
vivṛddha-mūṣikā rathyā vibhinnamaṇikās tathā | keśā nakhāś ca suptānām adyante mūṣikair niśi ||
Dijo Vaiśampāyana: Los ratones se habían multiplicado enormemente y desbordaban las calles. Roían y perforaban las vasijas de barro, y por la noche incluso mordisqueaban y comían el cabello y las uñas de las personas mientras dormían. La escena anuncia un grave desorden social y moral: una ominosa degradación de la seguridad y la limpieza que refleja el derrumbe del recto orden tras la gran guerra.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a disturbing public calamity—vermin overrunning human spaces—to indicate the breakdown of order and protection in society. Ethically, it suggests that when collective dharma weakens, even basic security and cleanliness collapse, and nature itself appears hostile.
Vaiśampāyana describes ominous conditions: mice have multiplied, infest the streets, pierce earthen pots, and at night gnaw the hair and nails of sleeping people. It functions as a portent of worsening times and impending catastrophe in the Mausala Parva narrative.