Shloka 1
गदायुद्ध-समारम्भः
Commencement of the Mace-Duel Proceedings
आपय>जा>जों छा हि मा चतुष्पठ्चाशत्तमोडध्याय: प्लक्षप्रस्वण आदि तीर्थों तथा सरस्वतीकी महिमा एवं नारदजीसे कौरवोंके विनाश और भीम तथा दुर्योधनके युद्धका समाचार सुनकर बलरामजीका उसे देखनेके लिये जाना वैशम्पायन उवाच कुरुक्षेत्र ततो दृष्टवा दत्त्वा दायांश्व॒ सात्वत: । आश्रमं सुमहद् दिव्यमगमज्जनमेजय
Vaiśampāyana uvāca: Kurukṣetraṃ tato dṛṣṭvā dattvā dāyāṃś ca sāttvataḥ | āśramaṃ sumahad divyam agamaj Janamejaya ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Then the Sāttvata (Balarāma), having beheld Kurukṣetra and having bestowed due shares (gifts/portions), proceeded—O Janamejaya—to a vast and radiant hermitage. The verse frames Balarāma’s movement as a dharmic withdrawal: after honoring sacred space and fulfilling obligations of giving, he turns toward ascetic refuge even as the war’s moral weight presses upon the world.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid the violence and moral strain of war, dharma is upheld through reverence for sacred places, the fulfillment of obligations (such as rightful giving/distribution), and the turn toward restraint and spiritual refuge. The verse subtly contrasts battlefield urgency with the ethical discipline of dāna and āśrama-oriented withdrawal.
The narrator reports that Balarāma (called Sāttvata) visits Kurukṣetra, performs acts of giving or distribution, and then departs to a great, luminous hermitage. It sets the scene for his movement away from the battlefield sphere into an ascetic setting while the larger war narrative continues.