Shloka 16
Svargārohaṇa-parva Adhyāya 5 — Karmaphala-Nirdeśa and Phalāśruti (कर्मफलनिर्देशः फलश्रुतिश्च)
निशठाक्रूरसाम्बाश्व भानुः कम्पो विदूरथ: । भूरिश्रवा: शलश्वैव भूरिश्व पृथिवीपति:
niśaṭhākrūrasāmbāśva bhānuḥ kampo vidūrathaḥ | bhūriśravāḥ śalaśvaiva bhūriśva pṛthivīpatiḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Niśaṭha, Krūra, Sāmba, Aśva, Bhānu, Kampana, Vidūratha, Bhūriśravā, Śalaśva, and Bhūriśva—the lord of the earth—(were among those named).” In the Svargārohaṇa narrative, such catalogues underscore the vast human cost of the Kurukṣetra conflict and serve as a moral reminder that worldly power and renown, however great, culminate in mortality and the reckoning of one’s deeds.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as part of a roll-call of notable figures, highlighting the impermanence of status and the ethical truth that even ‘lords of the earth’ are subject to death and the consequences of karma; remembrance of names becomes a moral reflection on the cost of adharma and war.
Vaiśampāyana continues enumerating individuals—primarily warriors and kings—within the Svargārohaṇa context, where the epic’s closing movement recalls those who perished and frames the end of the great conflict in terms of fate, merit, and final outcomes.