Shloka 15

Devanagari script

एतत्‌ प्रत्यक्षत: सर्व पूर्व वृत्तं द्विजोत्तम । तस्मादिच्छाम्यहं श्रोतुं सर्वहेत्वात्मिकां कथाम्‌,द्विजोत्तम! यह सारा पुरातन इतिहास आपका प्रत्यक्ष देखा हुआ है। इसलिये मैं आपके मुखसे सबके हेतुभूत कालका निरूपण करनेवाली कथा सुनना चाहता हूँ

Transliteration

etat pratyakṣataḥ sarvaṃ pūrva-vṛttaṃ dvijottama | tasmād icchāmy ahaṃ śrotuṃ sarva-hetv-ātmikāṃ kathām ||

Translation

Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “O best of twice-born sages, all this ancient account is known to you by direct experience. Therefore I wish to hear from your mouth the narrative that explains the underlying causes—the time and conditions that became the reasons for everything.”

Word by Word

• {'etat': 'this', 'pratyakṣataḥ': 'directly

• by firsthand perception', 'sarvam': 'all

• entirely', 'pūrva-vṛttam': 'what happened before

• ancient occurrence/account', 'dvijottama': 'best of the twice-born (honorific for a Brahmin sage)', 'tasmāt': 'therefore

• for that reason', 'icchāmi': 'I desire

• I wish', 'aham': 'I', 'śrotum': 'to hear', 'sarva-hetu-ātmikām': 'having the nature of (explaining) all causes

• causal in essence', 'kathām': 'story

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśaṃpāyana
• dvijottama (addressed sage)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes responsible inquiry: when a trustworthy witness has direct knowledge, one should seek not only the events but also their causes—understanding how time, conditions, and motives generate outcomes. This supports ethical reflection in itihāsa: actions and circumstances have consequences that can be traced and learned from.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśaṃpāyana addresses a revered Brahmin sage as “dvijottama,” acknowledging that the sage has firsthand knowledge of an ancient sequence of events. He then requests a fuller account—specifically a narrative that lays out the causal background (the reasons and conditions) behind what occurred.