Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 25

Baka Dālbhya at Avakīrṇa-tīrtha: Rāṣṭra-kṣaya and Release through Prasāda (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 40)

Devanagari script

असकृत्तस्य देवास्तु व्रतविध्नं प्रचक्रिरे

Transliteration

asakṛttasya devāstu vratavidhnaṁ pracakrire

Translation

वैशम्पायन बोले—किन्तु देवताओं ने बार-बार उसके व्रत में विघ्न रचे, और उसके धर्मानुष्ठान की गति को बाधित किया।

Word by Word

• असकृत्: repeatedly, again and again
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: असकृत् (अव्यय)

• तस्य: of him / for him
• तस्य: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine/neuter, genitive, singular

• देवाः: the gods
• देवाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: देव (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

• तु: but, indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु (अव्यय)

• व्रत-विध्नम्: an obstacle to (his) vow/observance
• व्रत-विध्नम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: व्रत (प्रातिपदिक) + विध्न (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, accusative, singular

• प्रचक्रिरे: they made/caused, they brought about
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ (धातु)
• Form: perfect (लिट्), 3rd, plural, Ātmanepada

Speaker

वैशग्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśaṃpāyana
• devāḥ (the gods)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Steadfastness in dharma is tested through repeated impediments; the verse highlights that true observance of a vow is proven not by ease but by endurance when obstacles—sometimes even divinely caused—arise.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator reports that the gods repeatedly created hindrances to someone’s vrata (religious vow/discipline), indicating a sequence of trials meant to interrupt or test the continuity of the observance.