Shloka 8
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 10: Ruru’s Vow and Ḍuṇḍubha’s Appeal (रुरोः प्रतिज्ञा—डुण्डुभोपदेशः)
रुरुस्वाच किमर्थ शप्तवान् क्रुद्धो द्विजस्त्वां भुजगोत्तम । कियन्तं चैव काल॑ ते वपुरेतद् भविष्यति,रुरुने पूछा--भुजगोत्तम! उस ब्राह्मणने किसलिये कुपित होकर तुम्हें शाप दिया? तुम्हारा यह शरीर अभी कितने समयतक रहेगा?
rurur uvāca: kimarthaṁ śaptavān kruddho dvijas tvāṁ bhujagottama? kiyantaṁ caiva kālaṁ te vapur etad bhaviṣyati?
Ruru said: “For what reason did the Brahmin, angered, curse you, O best of serpents? And for how long will this body-form of yours continue to exist?”
डुण्ड्रुभ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds ethical causality: anger can lead to harmful speech and curses, and such actions bind both the curser and the cursed to consequences over time. It also models inquiry before judgment—Ruru seeks the cause and the duration, implying that understanding context is part of righteous discernment.
Ruru addresses a serpent, asking why an angry Brahmin cursed it and how long the serpent must remain in its present bodily condition. The question sets up the backstory of the curse and frames the episode around accountability and the temporality of suffering.