Shloka 2
अदाहे हाश्वसेनस्य दानवस्य मयस्य च । कारणं कीर्तित ब्रह्म॒ज्छार्इुकाणां न कीर्तितम्,विप्रवर! आपने अश्वसेन नाग तथा मयदानवके न जलनेका कारण तो बताया है; परंतु शाड्ड्गकोंके दग्ध न होनेका कारण नहीं कहा है
adāhe hāśvasenasya dānavasya mayasya ca | kāraṇaṁ kīrtita brahmañ chārṅgakāṇāṁ na kīrtitam, vipravara |
Janamejaya said: “O Brahmin, you have explained why Aśvasena the Nāga and Maya the Dānava were not consumed in the burning; but you have not stated the reason why the Śārṅgakas were not burned.”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse models disciplined inquiry: a listener does not accept an incomplete account but asks for the missing causal link. In epic narration, ethical understanding often depends on knowing the specific reasons (kāraṇa) behind exceptions—who is spared, who is not, and why.
Janamejaya, hearing an account of a great burning in which certain beings (Aśvasena and Maya) escaped, points out an omission and asks the narrator to explain another exception: why the Śārṅgakas also were not consumed.