Shloka 1
Svargārohaṇa-parva Adhyāya 5 — Karmaphala-Nirdeśa and Phalāśruti (कर्मफलनिर्देशः फलश्रुतिश्च)
अपन रा< बछ। ] अत्ऑफा:म पञठ्चमो<ध्याय: भीष्म आदि वीरोंका अपने-अपने मूलस्वरूपमें मिलना और महा'भारतका उपसहार तथा माहात्म्य जनमेजय उवाच भीष्मद्रोणौ महात्मानौ धृतराष्ट्रश्न पार्थिव: । विराटद्रुपदौ चोभौ शड्खश्नैवोत्तरस्तथा
Janamejaya uvāca |
bhīṣma-droṇau mahātmānau dhṛtarāṣṭraś ca pārthivaḥ |
virāṭa-drupadau cobhau śaṅkhaś caivottaras tathā ||
Janamejaya said: “Bhīṣma and Droṇa, those great-souled heroes; King Dhṛtarāṣṭra; Virāṭa and Drupada—both of them; and Śaṅkha, as well as Uttara—what became of them?” In the closing movement of the epic, the king’s question turns from victory and loss to the moral accounting of lives: how the mighty, bound by duty and fate, reach their final state beyond the battlefield.
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the epic’s ethical closure: beyond the visible outcomes of war, the decisive question is the final destiny of persons shaped by dharma, error, loyalty, and karma. It invites reflection on how actions and roles culminate in an ultimate state.
Janamejaya asks the narrator to explain the fate (post-war/end-state) of major figures—Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virāṭa, Drupada, Śaṅkha, and Uttara—setting up an account of how these heroes and kings are resolved in the concluding parva.