Shloka 241
Ritual Acclamation at Hastināpura and Karṇa’s Vow Concerning Arjuna (राजकीय स्तुति-प्रसङ्गः कर्णप्रतिज्ञा च)
इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत वनपर्वके अन्तर्गत घोषयात्रापर्वमें कर्णपराजयविषयक दो सौ इकतालीसवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ ॥/
Iti prakāraṃ Śrīmahābhārate Vanaparvake antargataṃ Ghoṣayātrāparvaṇi Karṇaparājayaviṣayaka dviśata-eka-catvāriṃśattamo 'dhyāyaḥ pūrṇaḥ.
Thus ends the two-hundred and forty-first chapter of the Karṇa’s defeat episode, within the Ghoṣayātrā section of the Vana Parva of the Śrī Mahābhārata. The narrator marks the close of this unit, signaling a completed narrative movement in which pride and aggression meet reversal, and the moral arc of consequence is reaffirmed.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the verse primarily signals completion, but it also frames the preceding episode as morally intelligible: actions driven by arrogance and hostility culminate in reversal, reinforcing the epic’s emphasis on accountability and the ethical logic of consequences.
The narrator (Vaiśaṃpāyana) closes the chapter, identifying it as the 241st chapter of the Karṇa’s defeat subject-matter within the Ghoṣayātrā section of the Vana Parva, indicating a formal end to this chapter-unit in the Gītā Press edition’s structuring.