Shloka 3

अर्जुनदुःखहेतुप्रश्नः — Inquiry into the cause of Arjuna’s recurring hardship

Book 14, Chapter 89

Devanagari script

उद्धृत्य तु वपां तस्य यथाशास्त्र द्विजातय:

Transliteration

uddhṛtya tu vapāṃ tasya yathāśāstraṃ dvijātayaḥ

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : Ayant retiré comme il se doit l’épiploon (omentum) conformément aux injonctions rituelles, les prêtres deux-fois-nés poursuivirent selon la prescription, veillant à suivre le śāstra en chaque geste du sacrifice.

Word by Word

• उद्धृत्य: having taken out / having extracted
• उद्धृत्य: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: उद्-हृ (धातु: हृ)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (absolutive/gerund), कर्तरि

• तु: but/indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• वपाम्: the omentum / caul-fat
• वपाम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: वपा
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• तस्य: of him/it
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• यथा: according to / as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• शास्त्रम्: the scripture/ritual rule
• शास्त्रम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शास्त्र
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• द्विजातयः: the twice-born (Brahmins etc.)
• द्विजातयः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्विजाति
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• dvijātayaḥ (Brahmin priests)
• vapā (ritual omentum)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes dharma as disciplined adherence to śāstra: even powerful royal rites must be carried out with exact ritual correctness by qualified priests, showing that authority is subordinate to prescribed ethical-ritual order.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the course of the sacrificial proceedings, the officiating Brahmins remove the vapā (a specific sacrificial portion) from the animal/subject of the rite, performing the act exactly as the ritual manuals prescribe.