Shloka 10
Vāsudeva’s Upadeśa: The Inner Enemy and the Indra–Vṛtra Precedent (आत्मशत्रु-बोधः; इन्द्र-वृत्रोपाख्यानम्)
इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत आश्रवमेधिकपर्वके अन्तर्गत अश्वमेधपर्वमें संवर्त और मरुत्तका उपाख्यानविषयक दसवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ,अप्सु वृत्रगृहीतासु रसे च विषये हते
iti prakāraṁ śrīmahābhārata āśvamedhikaparvake antargata aśvamedhaparvame saṁvarta-maruttakā-upākhyāna-viṣayaka daśamo 'dhyāyaḥ pūrṇaḥ | apsu vṛtragṛhītāsu rase ca viṣaye hate | vaiśaṁpāyana uvāca |
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Thus ends the tenth chapter of the Aśvamedha section within the Āśvamedhika Parva of the Śrī Mahābhārata, dealing with the episode of Saṃvarta and King Marutta. (Colophon/closing marker:) ‘When the waters were seized by Vṛtra, and when the essence and the sphere of enjoyment were struck down.’
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a chapter-colophon, the verse primarily signals closure and frames the preceding narrative within a larger sacred history; the allusion to Vṛtra’s seizure of the waters evokes the ethical idea that cosmic order and prosperity depend on the removal of obstructive forces and the restoration of rightful flow (ṛta/dharma).
The narrator announces the completion of the chapter devoted to the Saṃvarta–Marutta episode within the Aśvamedha material, and a traditional closing line recalls a mythic motif—Vṛtra restraining the waters—serving as a stylized end-marker rather than advancing the plot.