Shloka 16
Āśvamedhika Parva, Adhyāya 77 — Saindhava resistance, Arjuna’s restraint, and Duḥśalā’s supplication
उल्काश्न जच्निरे सूर्य विकीर्यन्त्य:ः समन्ततः । वेपथुश्चा भवद् राजन् कैलासस्य महागिरे:,चारों ओर बिखरकर गिरती हुई उल्काएँ सूर्यसे टकराने लगीं। राजन! उस समय महापर्वत कैलास भी काँपने लगा
ulkāś ca jajñire sūryaṁ vikīryantyaḥ samantataḥ | vepathuś cābhavad rājan kailāsasya mahāgireḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Meteors appeared and, scattering in all directions, seemed to strike the sun. O King, at that moment even Mount Kailāsa, the great mountain, began to tremble—an ominous upheaval in nature reflecting the gravity of the events unfolding.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses cosmic portents—meteors and a trembling sacred mountain—to signal that moral and political actions have consequences that reverberate beyond human society. In Mahābhārata’s ethical imagination, disturbances in dharma are mirrored by disturbances in nature.
Vaiśampāyana narrates ominous signs: meteors scatter across the sky as if colliding with the sun, and Mount Kailāsa shakes. These are presented as foreboding indicators accompanying a moment of great narrative tension in the Aśvamedhika Parva.