Shloka 28
आदि पर्व — अध्याय ८३: ययाति-इन्द्र-संवादः तथा अष्टक-प्रश्नः
Yayāti–Indra Dialogue and Aṣṭaka’s Inquiry
देवयान्युवाच अधर्मेण जितो धर्म: प्रवृत्तमधरोत्तरम् । शर्मिष्ठयातिवृत्तास्मि दुहतित्रा वृषपर्वण:,देवयानीने कहा--पिताजी! अधर्मने धर्मको जीत लिया। नीचकी उन्नति हुई और उच्चकी अवनति। वृषपर्वाकी पुत्री शर्मिष्ठा मुझे लाँघचकर आगे बढ़ गयी
devayāny uvāca | adharmeṇa jito dharmaḥ pravṛttam adharottaram | śarmiṣṭhayātivṛttāsmi duhitātra vṛṣaparvaṇaḥ ||
Devayānī said: “Father, by unrighteousness righteousness has been overcome. The lower has risen and the higher has been brought low. Here Śarmiṣṭhā, the daughter of Vṛṣaparvan, has overstepped me and gone ahead.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse laments a moral inversion: when adharma prevails, rightful order (dharma) is eclipsed, leading to the rise of the unworthy and the humiliation of the worthy—an ethical warning about the social and personal consequences of unrighteous conduct.
Devayānī complains to her father that Śarmiṣṭhā, daughter of King Vṛṣaparvan, has insulted and overstepped her, framing the incident as a triumph of adharma over dharma and a reversal of proper status and respect.