Shloka 42
Nakula’s Declaration and the Uñchavṛtti Brāhmaṇa’s Superior Merit (Āśvamedhika Parva, Adhyāya 92)
तत् पय: स्थापयामास नवे भाण्डे दृढे शुचौ । तच्च क्रोधस्वरूपेण पिठरं धर्म आविशत्,उस दूधको उन्होंने नये पात्रमें, जो सुदृढ़ और पवित्र था, रख दिया। उस पात्रमें धर्मने क्रोधका रूप धारण करके प्रवेश किया
tat payaḥ sthāpayāmāsa nave bhāṇḍe dṛḍhe śucau | tacca krodhasvarūpeṇa piṭharaṃ dharma āviśat |
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: He set that milk in a new vessel—sturdy and ritually pure. Then Dharma entered that container, assuming the very form of wrath, suggesting that even what is outwardly pure can become the seat of moral testing when anger takes hold.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how anger can infiltrate even a setting marked by outward purity and order; Dharma’s taking the form of wrath frames anger as a decisive ethical force that can test or distort righteous conduct.
Milk is placed into a new, strong, clean vessel, and then Dharma—personified—enters that container in the guise of anger, signaling an impending moral or narrative turn driven by wrath.