Shloka 17

Devanagari script

नासि केवलसर्पेण तिर्यग्योनिषु वर्तता गृहीत: कौरवश्रेष्ठ वरदानमिदं मम

Transliteration

nāsi kevalasarpeṇa tiryagyoniṣu vartatā gṛhītaḥ kauravaśreṣṭha varadānam idaṃ mama

Translation

Wahai yang terbaik di antara para Kaurava! Engkau tidak ditangkap oleh ular biasa yang hidup di kelahiran rendah. Ini adalah anugerah (vara) yang kudapat.

Word by Word

nanot

asiyou are

kevalaonly, merely

sarpeṇaby a snake

tiryag-yoniṣuin animal wombs/births (non-human species)

vartatāwhile existing/being (as one who lives)

gṛhītaḥseized, caught

kaurava-śreṣṭhaO best of the Kauravas

vara-dānama boon-gift (grant of a boon)

idamthis

mamaof me, my

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Kauravaśreṣṭha (addressed person)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Do not judge events only by outward appearances: what seems like a random misfortune (being seized by a serpent) may be shaped by higher agency and moral causality (karma), and can even function as a divinely or supernaturally granted boon.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator Vaiśampāyana addresses a Kaurava as ‘best of the Kauravas’ and clarifies that the capture by a serpent was not the act of a mere animal; it is connected to a deliberate, boon-like intervention attributed to the speaker.