Shloka 17
Ruru–Pramadvarā: Lineage, Fosterage, Betrothal, and the Snakebite Crisis (Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 8)
तत: कतिपयाहस्य विवाहे समुपस्थिते । सखीभ्रि: क्रीडती सार्थ सा कन्या वरवर्णिनी,तदनन्तर जब विवाहका मुहूर्त निकट आ गया, उसी समय वह सुन्दरी कन्या सखियोंके साथ क्रीड़ा करती हुई वनमें घूमने लगी
tataḥ katipayāhasya vivāhe samupasthite | sakhībhiḥ krīḍatī sārthaṃ sā kanyā varavarṇinī ||
Śaunaka said: When the wedding, due after only a few days, was drawing near, that beautiful maiden, accompanied by her friends, went about in the forest, playing. In the narrative frame, the verse highlights the calm, ordinary rhythms of youthful life just before a decisive social rite (marriage) approaches—an implicit contrast often used in the Mahābhārata to foreshadow sudden turns of fate and to situate personal choice within dharma-bound social transitions.
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse situates personal life within dharma-governed social transitions: as a major rite (vivāha) approaches, ordinary play continues, subtly reminding that pivotal duties and life-changes can arrive while one is absorbed in everyday pleasures—often a prelude to moral testing in the epic.
As the wedding time nears in a few days, the beautiful maiden, accompanied by her friends, is described as playing and roaming in the forest—setting the scene immediately before subsequent events connected to the impending marriage.