Shloka 15
किमर्थ च महत् पापमिदं कृतवती पुरा | राजन्! वह दिव्यरूपिणी मनोरमा रमणी अपनी अद्भुत कान्तिसे प्रकाशित हो रही थी। यह महान् आश्चर्यकी बात देखकर कुन्तीनन्दन धनंजय बड़े प्रसन्न हुए और उस स्त्रीसे इस प्रकार बोले--“कल्याणी! तुम कौन हो और कैसे जलचरयोनिको प्राप्त हुई थी? तुमने पूर्वकालमें ऐसा महान् पाप किसलिये किया जिससे तुम्हारी यह दुर्गति हुई?” ।। १३-१४ ३ || वर्गोवाच अप्सरास्मि महाबाहो देवारण्यविहारिणी,वर्गा बोली--महाबाहो! मैं नन्दनवनमें विहार करनेवाली एक अप्सरा हूँ
kīmarthaṃ ca mahat pāpam idaṃ kṛtavatī purā | rājan |
Vaiśampāyana said: “O King, for what reason did she formerly commit this great sin?” (This question is posed in the context of Arjuna’s wonder at a radiant, divine-looking woman who has fallen into an aquatic birth, prompting him to ask what past wrongdoing caused such a degraded condition.)
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds karmic causality: a present misfortune (durgati) is treated as having an ethical cause in a prior act (pāpa). It frames suffering as intelligible within dharma—inviting reflection on responsibility, restraint, and the long reach of actions.
Vaiśampāyana, narrating to the king, reports the inquiry made about a woman’s fallen condition: why she committed a grave wrongdoing in the past. In the immediate context, Arjuna encounters a dazzling, divine-looking woman in an aquatic state and questions what past act led to such a fate.