Shloka 20
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 181 — Svayaṃvara Aftermath: Arjuna–Karna Exchange and Bhīma–Śalya Contest
पत्नीमृतावनुप्राप्य सद्यस्त्यक्ष्यसि जीवितम् । यस्य चर्षेर्वसिष्ठस्य त्वया पुत्रा विनाशिता:,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”
patnīmṛtāv anuprāpya sadyas tyakṣyasi jīvitam | yasya cārṣer vasiṣṭhasya tvayā putrā vināśitāḥ ||
The Gandharva said: “When your wife comes into her fertile season, you will at once give up your life. And the sons of the seer Vasiṣṭha—whom you have destroyed—will be the very ones through whom your wife will bear a son.” In context, this utterance frames a moral consequence: violent, predatory wrongdoing (the killing of a Brahmin and the slaughter of Vasiṣṭha’s sons) rebounds upon the perpetrator through a curse that targets both bodily life and dynastic continuity, turning lineage itself into an arena of retribution and restoration.
गन्धर्व उवाच
Educational Q&A
Grave adharma—especially predatory violence against the innocent and against Brahmin-sages—invites swift, proportionate consequences. The verse emphasizes that wrongdoing can rebound not only on the body (death) but also on social and dynastic aims (offspring and lineage), making ethical restraint central to kingship and personal conduct.
A curse is being pronounced: the addressed man is told he will die immediately upon approaching his wife during her fertile season, and that the sons of the sage Vasiṣṭha—whom he has killed—will nonetheless become the means by which his wife bears a son, ensuring lineage through an ironic reversal.