Shloka 26
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 181 — Svayaṃvara Aftermath: Arjuna–Karna Exchange and Bhīma–Śalya Contest
त॑ं शापमनुसंस्मृत्य पर्यतप्यद् भृशं तदा । एतस्मात् कारणाद् राजा वसिष्ठ॑ संन्ययोजयत् | स्वदारेषु नरश्रेष्ठ शापदोषसमन्वित:,उस शापको बार-बार याद करके उन्हें बड़ा संताप हुआ। नृपश्रेष्ठ; इसी कारण शापदोषसे युक्त राजा कल्माषपादने महर्षि वसिष्ठका अपनी पत्नीके साथ नियोग कराया
taṁ śāpam anusasmṛtya paryatapyad bhṛśaṁ tadā | etasmāt kāraṇād rājā vasiṣṭhaṁ sanniyojayat | svadāreṣu naraśreṣṭha śāpadoṣasamanvitaḥ |
Remembering that curse again and again, he was then tormented exceedingly. For this very reason, the king—burdened with the fault arising from the curse—appointed Vasiṣṭha to perform niyoga with his own wife, O best of men. The passage frames a morally fraught resort to an exceptional social practice, driven not by desire but by the pressure of a curse and the perceived need to secure lineage and order.
गन्धर्व उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how a curse (śāpa) can be viewed as producing a moral-ritual blemish (doṣa) that constrains agency, leading rulers to seek extraordinary, dharma-framed remedies (like niyoga) to preserve lineage and social order—while underscoring the tension between personal propriety and perceived duty under compulsion.
The king, repeatedly recalling the curse and suffering intensely, decides that the situation requires an exceptional measure. He therefore commissions the sage Vasiṣṭha to undertake niyoga with the king’s own wife, presenting the act as a consequence of the curse-driven predicament rather than ordinary desire.