Shloka 55
Babhruvāhana’s Lament and Appeal for Expiation (प्रायश्चित्त-याचना)
अनाहता दुन्दुभयो विनेदुर्मेघनि:स्वना: । साधु साध्विति चाकाशे बभूव सुमहान् स्वन:,मेघके समान गम्भीर ध्वनि करनेवाली देव-दुन्दुभियाँ बिना बजाये ही बज उठीं और आकाशमें साधुवादकी महान् ध्वनि गूँजने लगी
anāhatā dundubhayo vinedur meghaniḥsvanāḥ | sādhu sādhv iti cākāśe babhūva sumahān svanaḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “Without being struck, the kettledrums resounded—deep as thunderclouds; and in the sky there arose a very great acclaim, ‘Well done! Well done!’”
वैशमग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames moral approval as cosmic: when a righteous act or auspicious turning-point occurs, the world itself seems to endorse it through signs—unstruck celestial drums and universal acclaim—suggesting that dharma is not merely personal but harmonizes with a larger order.
The narrator reports an auspicious omen: celestial drums thunder without being played, and the sky reverberates with cries of “Well done!”—a public, otherworldly endorsement of the event unfolding in the Aśvamedhika Parva’s ritual-political setting.