Shloka 36
Svargārohaṇa-parva Adhyāya 5 — Karmaphala-Nirdeśa and Phalāśruti (कर्मफलनिर्देशः फलश्रुतिश्च)
पुण्योडयमितिहासाख्य: पवित्र चेदमुत्तमम् कृष्णेन मुनिना विप्र निर्मितं सत्यवादिना
puṇyodayam itihāsākhyam pavitraṁ cedam uttamam | kṛṣṇena muninā vipra nirmitaṁ satyavādinā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: This supreme and purifying work, known as an itihāsa, brings the rise of merit. O brāhmaṇa, it was composed by the sage Kṛṣṇa, a speaker of truth—thereby affirming its ethical authority and sanctifying power for those who hear and preserve it.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts the Mahābhārata’s ethical and spiritual efficacy: it is a supremely purifying itihāsa that generates puṇya, and its authority is grounded in being composed by the truthful sage Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa).
Vaiśampāyana, continuing his recitation, pauses to praise the text itself—identifying it as a sacred history that purifies and yields merit, and attributing its composition to the sage Vyāsa, characterized as a speaker of truth.