Shloka 15
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 181 — Svayaṃvara Aftermath: Arjuna–Karna Exchange and Bhīma–Śalya Contest
एवं विक्रोशमानायास्तस्यास्तु स नृशंसवत्,इस प्रकार ब्राह्मगी करुण विलाप करती हुई याचना कर रही थी, तो भी जैसे व्याप्र मनचाहे मृगको मारकर खा जाता है, उसी प्रकार राजाने अत्यन्त निर्दयीकी भाँति ब्राह्यणीके पतिको खा लिया। उस समय क्रोधसे पीड़ित हुई ब्राह्मणीके नेत्रोंसे धरतीपर आँसुओंकी जो बूँदें गिरी, वे सब प्रज्वलित अग्नि बन गयीं। उस अग्निने उस स्थानको जलाकर भस्म कर दिया। तदनन्तर पतिके वियोगसे व्यथित एवं शोकसंतप्त ब्राह्मणीने रोषमें भरकर राजर्षि कल्माषपादको शाप दिया--'ओ नीच! मेरी पतिविषयक कामना अभी पूर्ण नहीं हो पायी थी, तभी तूने अत्यन्त क्रूरकी भाँति मेरे देखते-देखते आज मेरे महायशस्वी प्रियतम पतिको अपना ग्रास बना लिया है; अतः दुर्बुद्धे! तू भी मेरे शापसे पीड़ित हुआ ऋतुकालमें पत्नीके साथ समागम करते ही तत्काल प्राण त्याग देगा। जिन महर्षि वसिष्ठके पुत्रोंका तुमने संहार किया है, उन्हींसे समागम करके तेरी पत्नी पुत्र पैदा करेगी। नृूपाधम! वही पुत्र तेरा वंश चलानेवाला होगा”
evaṁ vikrośamānāyās tasyās tu sa nṛśaṁsavat | yācamānāyā api rājā vyāghra iva mṛgaṁ hatvā brāhmaṇasya patiṁ jagrāsa | tadā krodha-pīḍitāyā brāhmaṇyā netrābhyāṁ pṛthivyāṁ patitā aśru-binduḥ sarvaḥ prajvalitāgnir abhavat | sa agnis tat-sthānaṁ dagdhvā bhasmasāt cakāra | tataḥ pati-viyoga-duḥkhitā śoka-santaptā brāhmaṇī roṣeṇa rājārṣiṁ kalmāṣapādaṁ śaśāpa—“nīca! mama pati-viṣayā kāmanā adyāpi na paripūrṇā, tvayā tu krūreṇa mayā paśyantyā eva mama mahāyaśasvinaṁ priyatamaṁ patiṁ grāsaṁ kṛtaḥ; ataḥ durbuddhe! tvam api mama śāpena pīḍitaḥ ṛtu-kāle patnyā saha saṁgama-mātreṇa sadyaḥ prāṇān tyakṣyasi | ye mahārṣeḥ vasiṣṭhasya putrās tvayā nihātās, tebhya eva saṁgamya tava patnī putraṁ prasaviṣyati | nṛpādhama! sa eva putras tava vaṁśaṁ pravartayiṣyati.”
Even as the brahmin woman cried out and pleaded, the king—acting with ruthless cruelty—devoured her husband, like a tiger killing and eating a desired deer. Then, tormented by anger, the tears that fell from the brahmin woman’s eyes onto the earth turned into blazing fire; that fire burned the spot to ashes. Thereafter, afflicted by separation from her husband and scorched by grief, she, filled with wrath, pronounced a curse upon the royal sage Kalmāṣapāda: “Wretch! My desire concerning my husband had not yet been fulfilled, and yet you, like a savage, have before my very eyes made my illustrious beloved husband your prey. Therefore, fool—struck by my curse—you shall die the very moment you unite with your wife during her fertile season. And the wife you have will conceive a son through union with those very sons of the great seer Vasiṣṭha whom you have slain. O basest of kings, that son alone will carry on your lineage.”
गन्धर्व उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage underscores that royal power without restraint becomes adharma: cruelty toward the innocent invites immediate moral and cosmic consequences. It also highlights the potency of a wronged person’s truth-backed curse (śāpa) as a form of ethical retribution within the epic’s karmic framework.
A king (Kalmāṣapāda), behaving like a predator, devours a brahmin’s husband despite the wife’s pleas. Her tears ignite into fire that burns the place, and she then curses the king to die upon intercourse during his wife’s fertile period; she further declares that his wife will bear a son through the slain sons of Vasiṣṭha, and that son will continue the king’s lineage.