Shloka 228
चित्रसेनगन्धर्वैः कौरवसंनिपातः
Citrasena and the Kaurava engagement
इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत वनपर्वके अन्तर्गत मार्कण्डेयसमास्यापर्वमें आंगिरसोपाख्यानके प्रयंगनें कुमारोत्पत्तिविषयक दो सौ अट्ठाईसवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
iti prakāraṃ śrīmahābhārate vanaparvake antargata-mārkaṇḍeyasamāsyāparvaṇi āṅgirasopākhyānasya prayojane kumārotpatti-viṣayakaḥ dviśatāṣṭāviṃśatitamodhyāyaḥ pūrṇaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Vana Parva—specifically in the Markandeya Summary Section—concludes the two-hundred-and-twenty-eighth chapter, which, as part of the Āṅgirasa episode, treats the theme of the birth of a son. The colophon signals the completion of this unit, framing the narrative as a purposeful exemplum within the forest-book’s moral instruction.
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the line primarily teaches how the Mahābhārata frames stories as purposeful exempla: episodes (upākhyānas) are embedded within larger books to convey moral and social values—here, the significance of progeny/continuity and the completion of a didactic unit under Mārkaṇḍeya’s narration.
This is not a narrative event but an editorial/narrative marker: Mārkaṇḍeya’s spoken section closes the 228th chapter of the Āṅgirasa episode, identified as dealing with the theme of a son’s birth, and announces the chapter’s completion within the Vana Parva.