Shloka 23
Nahūṣa as Ajagara: Virtue Hierarchy, Karmic Gati, and the Psychology of Mind–Intellect
प्लक्षाक्षरोहीतकवेतसाश्र तथा बदर्य: खदिरा: शिरीषा: बिल्वेड्गुदा: पीलुशमीकरीरा: सरस्वतीतीररुहा बभूवु:,सरस्वतीके तटपर पाकड़, बहेड़ा, रोहितक, बेंत, बेर, खैर, सिरस, बेल, इंगुदी, पीलु, शमी और करीर आदिके वृक्ष खड़े थे। वह नदी यक्ष, गन्धर्व और महर्षियोंको प्रिय थी। देवताओंकी तो वह मानो बस्ती ही थी। राजपुत्र पाण्डव बड़ी प्रसन्नता और सुखसे वहाँ विचरने और निवास करने लगे
vaiśampāyana uvāca | plakṣākṣa-rohītaka-vetasa-āśrāḥ tathā badaryaḥ khadirāḥ śirīṣāḥ bilva-iṅgudāḥ pīlu-śamī-karīrāḥ sarasvatī-tīra-ruhā babhūvuḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Along the banks of the Sarasvatī stood many trees—plakṣa, akṣa, rohītaka, vetasa, and also jujube, khadira, and śirīṣa, as well as bilva, iṅgudī, pīlu, śamī, and karīra—growing thickly on the river’s edge. The passage evokes a sacred, life-sustaining landscape: a riverbank beloved of higher beings and sages, where the Pāṇḍavas, freed for a time from conflict, find a setting conducive to calm, restraint, and righteous living in exile.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how a sacred, orderly natural environment supports dharmic living: in exile, the Pāṇḍavas are sustained not only by food and shelter but by a setting associated with sages and divine beings, encouraging calm, self-control, and perseverance.
The narrator describes the Sarasvatī’s riverbank, thick with named trees and vegetation, as the Pāṇḍavas move through or dwell in this region during their forest exile, finding a pleasing and spiritually resonant place to stay.