Shloka 7
Vyāsa’s Arrival at Janamejaya’s Sarpasatra; Commissioning of Vaiśaṃpāyana’s Recital (व्यासागमनम्)
जनमेजयस्य वो यज्ञे धक्ष्यत्यनिलसारथि: । तत्र पञठ्चत्वमापन्ना: प्रेतलोक॑ गमिष्यथ,(अश्वोंका राजा जो उच्चै:श्रवा है, उसके रंगको लेकर विनताके साथ कढद्रूने बाजी लगायी थी। उसमें यह शर्त थी--“जो हारे वह जीतनेवालीकी दासी बने।” कद्रू उच्चै:श्रवाकी पूँछ काली बता चुकी थी। अतः उसने अपने पुत्रोंसे कहा--“तुमलोग छलपूर्वक उस घोड़ेकी पूँछ काले रंगकी कर दो।' सर्प इससे सहमत न हुए। तब उन्होंने सर्पोको शाप देते हुए कहा --) पुत्रों! तुमलोगोंने मेरे कहनेसे अश्वराज उच्चै:श्रवाकी पूँछका रंग न बदलकर विनताके साथ जो मेरी दासी होनेकी शर्त थी, उसमें--उस घोड़ेके सम्बन्धमें विनताके कथनको मिथ्या नहीं कर दिखाया, इसलिये जनमेजयके यज्ञमें तुमलोगोंको आग जलाकर भस्म कर देगी और तुम सभी मरकर प्रेतलोकको चले जाओगे”
janamejayasya vo yajñe dhakṣyaty anilasārathiḥ | tatra pañcatvam āpannāḥ pretalokaṁ gamiṣyatha ||
Āstīka said: “In King Janamejaya’s sacrifice, the Fire—driven by the wind as his charioteer—will burn you. There you will meet your end, and, having died, you will go to the realm of the departed.” The line evokes the moral consequence of deceit and disobedience within a familial vow: a curse is framed not as arbitrary cruelty but as the inevitable ethical fallout of violating trust and duty, culminating in the later serpent-sacrifice.
आस्तीक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Actions that violate truth, trust, and duty—especially within binding vows—carry consequences that may unfold later with full force; the verse frames destruction in the sacrificial fire as the ethical result of prior wrongdoing.
Āstīka refers to the destined outcome for the serpents: in Janamejaya’s great sacrifice they will be drawn into the fire and perish, going to the realm of the dead—an allusion to the later sarpa-satra (snake-sacrifice) that becomes central to the Adi Parva narrative.