Shloka 166
निवातकवचैः सह अर्जुनस्य रथयुद्धम्
Arjuna’s chariot engagement with the Nivātakavacas
धनाध्यक्ष कुबेरके घरमें टिके हुए पाण्डवोंका जो इन्द्रके साथ समागम हुआ था, उस प्रसंगको जो विद्वान एकाग्रचित्त होकर प्रतिदिन पढ़ता है और संयम-नियमसे रहकर कठोर व्रतका आश्रय ले एक वर्षतक ब्रह्मचर्यका पालन करता है, वह सब प्रकारकी बाधाओंसे रहित हो सौ वर्षोतक सुखपूर्वक जीवन धारण करता है ।। इति श्रीमहाभारते वनपर्वणि निवातकचवयुद्धपर्वणि इन्द्रागमने षट्षष्टयधिकशततमो< ध्याय:,इस प्रकार श्रीमह्या भारत वनपर्वके अन्तर्गत निवातकवचयुद्धपर्वमें इन्द्रागयमनविषयक एक सौ छाछठवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
vaiśampāyana uvāca | dhanādhyakṣa-kuberagṛhe sthitānāṃ pāṇḍavānāṃ ya indreṇa saha samāgamaḥ sa prasangaḥ | yaḥ kaścid vidvān ekāgracitto bhūtvā taṃ nityaṃ paṭhati, saṃyama-niyamopetaḥ kaṭhora-vratam āsthāya saṃvatsaraṃ brahmacaryaṃ carati, sa sarva-prakāra-bādhā-vivarjitaḥ śata-varṣāṇi sukha-pūrvakaṃ jīvanaṃ dhārayati || iti śrīmahābhārate vanaparvaṇi nivātakavaca-yuddha-parvaṇi indrāgamane ṣaṭ-ṣaṣṭy-adhika-śatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: Whoever, being learned and single-minded, recites each day the account of the Pāṇḍavas’ meeting with Indra while they were staying in the house of Kubera, and who—living with self-restraint and observances—undertakes a rigorous vow and maintains celibacy for a full year, becomes free from every kind of obstruction and lives happily for a hundred years. Thus ends, in the Mahābhārata’s Vana Parva, within the section on the battle with the Nivātakavacas, the chapter concerning Indra’s arrival, the one hundred and sixty-sixth.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage presents a phalaśruti: disciplined daily recitation, coupled with self-restraint (saṃyama-niyama) and a year-long brahmacarya-vrata, is said to remove obstacles and support a long, happy life—linking ethical discipline with spiritual merit.
The narrator concludes the chapter by praising the episode in which the Pāṇḍavas, staying in Kubera’s abode, have an encounter with Indra. The closing colophon identifies the setting within Vana Parva and the subsection connected to the Nivātakavaca conflict, marking the end of the chapter on Indra’s arrival.