Shloka 3
Rājarṣi-samāgamaḥ — Yudhiṣṭhirasya Dharma-parīkṣā ca
Meeting the Royal Sage and a Dharmic Audit
पपात महती चोल्का सनिर्घाता महाभया । निष्प्रभश्चाभवत् सूर्यश्छन्नरश्मिस्तमोवृत:,वज्रकी गड़गड़ाहटके साथ अत्यन्त भयदायक भारी उल्कापात होने लगा। सूर्य अन्धकारसे आवृत हो प्रभाशून्य हो गये। उनकी किरणें आच्छादित हो गयीं
papāta mahatī colkā sanirghātā mahābhayā | niṣprabhaś cābhavat sūryaś channarasmis tamovṛtaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: A huge meteor fell, accompanied by a thunderous crash, terrifying in its omen. The sun then lost its radiance; veiled by darkness, its rays were obscured—signaling a grave disturbance in the moral and cosmic order surrounding the events being narrated.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses ominous natural signs to suggest that adharma and impending calamity disturb not only society but symbolically the cosmos; it frames ethical crisis as having universal resonance.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana reports frightening portents: a massive meteor falls with a thunderous sound, and the sun becomes dim as darkness covers it and its rays are obscured.