Shloka 28
नाविद्यत तदा विप्रा: संचयस्तन्निबोधत । क्षीणौषधिसमावेशे द्रव्यहीनो5भवत् तदा,ब्राह्मणो! सुनो। एक समय वहाँ बड़ा भयंकर अकाल पड़ा। उन दिनों उन धर्मात्मा ब्राह्मणके पास अन्नका संग्रह तो था नहीं, खेतोंका अन्न भी सूख गया था। अतः वे सर्वथा निर्धन हो गये थे
na avidyat tadā viprāḥ sañcayas tan nibodhata | kṣīṇauṣadhi-samāveśe dravya-hīno 'bhavat tadā brāhmaṇo, suno | eka-samaye tatra mahān bhayaṅkaraḥ akālaḥ apatat | teṣu dineṣu dharmātmanaḥ brāhmaṇasya anna-sañcayo na āsīt, kṣetra-annaṃ ca śuṣyati sma | ataḥ sa sarvathā nirdhano 'bhavat |
Nakula said: “Understand this: at that time the brahmins had no stored provisions. When the herbs and crops had withered away, that brahmin became bereft of all resources, O son. Once, a great and dreadful famine struck there. In those days the righteous brahmin had no reserve of grain, and the produce of the fields had dried up; thus he became completely impoverished.”
नकुल उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds how external calamity (famine) can strip even a righteous person of material support, setting the ethical stage for dharmic choices under scarcity—where virtue is tested not in abundance but in deprivation.
Nakula describes a severe famine: crops and herbs have dried up, there is no stored grain among the brahmins, and a particular righteous brahmin becomes completely destitute—preparing the context for subsequent actions and moral decisions.