Shloka 257
अहिंसा-प्रधान धर्मविचारः
Ahiṃsā as the Superior Dharma: Practical and Scriptural Reasoning
इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत शान्तिपर्वके अन्तर्गत गोक्षधर्मपर्वरें गृत्यु और प्रजापतिका संवादविषयक दो सौ सत्तावनवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
Iti prakāreṇa Śrīmahābhārate Śāntiparvaṇi antargate Gokṣadharmaparvaṇi Mṛtyu-Prajāpatisaṃvāda-viṣayakaḥ saptapañcāśad-uttara-dviśatatamaḥ adhyāyaḥ samāptaḥ.
Ainsi, dans le «Śrī Mahābhārata», au sein du «Śānti Parvan»—plus précisément dans la section «Gokṣa-dharma»—s’achève le deux-cent-cinquante-septième chapitre, consacré au dialogue entre Mṛtyu (la Mort) et Prajāpati. Le colophon marque la clôture d’un épisode d’enseignement, présenté comme un entretien doctrinal sur le dharma et l’ordre cosmique.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
This line functions as a colophon rather than a doctrinal verse: it signals the completion of a teaching unit framed as the Mṛtyu–Prajāpati dialogue within Śānti Parva’s Gokṣa-dharma section, emphasizing that the preceding discourse belongs to a dharma-oriented, cosmological instruction context.
Nārada’s narration reaches a formal close for this chapter: the text announces that the 257th adhyāya—whose subject is the conversation between personified Death (Mṛtyu) and Prajāpati—has ended within the Śānti Parva’s internal subdivision called Gokṣadharma Parva.