Shloka 52
विचित्रवीर्यस्त्वनपत्य एव विदेहत्वं प्राप्त: | ततः: सत्यवत्यचिन्तयन्मा दौष्यन्तो वंश उच्छेदं व्रजेदिति,विचित्रवीर्यके अभी कोई संतान नहीं हुई थी, तभी उनका देहावसान हो गया। तब सत्यवतीको यह चिन्ता हुई कि *राजा दुष्यन्तका यह वंश नष्ट न हो जाय”
vaicitravīryas tv anapatya eva videhatvaṃ prāptaḥ | tataḥ satyavatī acintayan mā dauṣyanto vaṃśa ucchedaṃ vrajed iti |
Vaiśampāyana said: Vicitravīrya died without leaving any offspring. Then Satyavatī became anxious, thinking, “May the line of Duṣyanta not come to extinction.” The passage highlights the royal duty to preserve the continuity of the Kuru lineage and the ethical urgency felt by elders when succession is threatened.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores a key royal-ethical concern in the Mahābhārata: safeguarding dynastic continuity is treated as a dharmic responsibility, and the extinction of a righteous lineage is viewed as a grave social and political loss.
Vicitravīrya dies childless. Satyavatī, fearing the extinction of Duṣyanta’s line (the Kuru/Paurava succession), begins to deliberate on how to prevent the dynasty from ending—setting the stage for measures to secure heirs.