Shloka 22
धृतराष्ट्रस्य मूर्च्छा—व्यासोपदेशः
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Collapse and Vyāsa’s Counsel
नारदप्रमुखाश्नापि सर्वे देवर्षयो5नघ । तत्र चापि मया दृष्टा पृथिवी पृथिवीपते
nārada-pramukhāś cāpi sarve devarṣayo 'nagha | tatra cāpi mayā dṛṣṭā pṛthivī pṛthivīpate ||
Vyāsa said: “O sinless one, all the divine seers too—Nārada at their head—were there. And there, O lord of the earth, I also beheld the Earth herself.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores that the moral and cosmic consequences of human actions—especially royal and wartime actions—are witnessed not only by people but also by higher beings (devarṣis) and even by the Earth as a moral presence. It implies accountability before a wider, sacred order.
Vyāsa reports what he saw: the assembly/presence of divine seers led by Nārada, and the appearance of Pṛthivī (Earth) herself. He addresses a king (“lord of the earth”), situating the scene within the post-war context of Stree Parva where grief and cosmic responses to the conflict are being described.