Shloka 8
अध्याय ७१ — द्रोणव्यूहरक्षा तथा समकालीन द्वन्द्वयुद्धानि
Protection of Droṇa’s formation and parallel duels
नारद उवाच मृतं ददानि ते पुत्र दस्युभिर्निहतं वृथा । उद्धृत्य नरकात् कष्टात् पशुवत् प्रोक्षितं यथा,नारदजीने कहा--राजन्! लुटेरोंने तुम्हारे पुत्रको प्रोक्षित पशुकी भाँति व्यर्थ ही मार डाला है। तुम्हारे उस मरे हुए पुत्रको मैं कष्टप्रद नरकसे निकालकर तुम्हें पुन: वापस दे रहा हूँ
nārada uvāca: mṛtaṃ dadāni te putra dasyubhir nihataṃ vṛthā | uddhṛtya narakāt kaṣṭāt paśuvat prokṣitaṃ yathā ||
Nārada said: “I return to you your son—though he has been slain in vain by bandits. Having lifted him out of a grievous hell, I give him back to you, like a sacrificial animal that has been sprinkled (in the rite).” The verse frames the killing as purposeless violence and contrasts it with Nārada’s restorative, dharma-aligned act of rescue from suffering.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse condemns purposeless killing (vṛthā) and highlights a dharmic ideal of compassion and restoration: the sage intervenes to relieve suffering and undo harm, even across the boundary of death and naraka.
Nārada addresses a king and declares that the king’s son was slain by bandits. Nārada then claims to have rescued the son from a painful hell and to be returning him, using ritual language (prokṣita) to underscore purification and reinstatement.