Shloka 17
स्वर्गारोहणपर्व — तृतीयोऽध्यायः
Indra and Dharma’s Consolation; Celestial Gaṅgā Purification
आगच्छ नरशार्दूल मुक्तास्ते चैव कल्मषात्,'पुरुषसिंह! आओ, वे सभी पापसे मुक्त हो गये हैं। भरतश्रेष्ठ! तुम्हारे पक्षके जो-जो राजा युद्धमें मारे गये हैं वे सभी स्वर्गलोकमें आ पहुँचे हैं। चलो, उनका दर्शन करो
āgaccha naraśārdūla muktās te caiva kalmaṣāt | puruṣasiṃha āgaccha te sarve pāpāt pramuktāḥ | bharataśreṣṭha tava pakṣasya ye ye rājāno yuddhe hatās te sarve svargalokaṃ prāptāḥ | cala teṣāṃ darśanaṃ kuru ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “Come, tiger among men. They have indeed been released from defilement. O lion among men, come—those kings who fell in battle on your side have all reached the heavenly world, freed from sin. Come now and behold them.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames death in righteous battle as leading to purification and a heavenly attainment, emphasizing the epic idea that one’s end-state is shaped by dharma and the moral quality of one’s action, not merely by the fact of violence.
Vaiśaṃpāyana urges the addressed hero (praised as ‘tiger/lion among men’ and ‘best of the Bharatas’) to come and see the kings from his side who were slain in the war; they are described as freed from sin and already arrived in Svargaloka.